Mate number, kin selection and social conflicts in stingless bees and honeybees

Microsatellite genotyping of workers from 13 species (ten genera) of stingl ess bees shows that genetic relatedness is very high. Workers are usually d aughters of a single, singly mated queen. This observation, coupled with th e multiple mating of honeybee queens, permits kin selection theory to accou nt for many differences in the social biology of the two taxa. First, in co ntrast to honeybees, where workers are predicted to and do police each othe r's male production, stingless bee workers are predicted to compete directl y with the queen for rights to produce males. This leads to behavioural and reproductive conflict during oviposition. Second, the risk that a daughter queen will attack the mother queen is higher in honeybees, as is the cost of such an attack to workers. This explains why stingless bees commonly hav e virgin queens in the nest, but honeybees do not. It also explains why in honeybees the mother queen leaves to found a new nest, while in stingless b ees it is the daughter queen who leaves.