A new study challenges the traditional view of a honey bee colony

A new study challenges the traditional view of a honey bee colony. By considering the bees as a superorganism, the fundamental biology of the honey bee is redefined. These groundbreaking insights could impact modern beekeeping practices.

Conventionally, a honey bee colony is seen as a large group of individual organisms: one queen, 200–300 drones, and tens of thousands of worker bees, each with specific roles contributing to the colony's function. The new study proposes viewing the queen and her colony as a single superorganism, similar to how our bodies are made up of cells.