New Insights on Honeybee Swarms and Colony Life Cycles

Dr. Hannes Bonhoff (Lund University) and Dr. Heikki Helanterä (University of Oulu) argue in a new review that the departing swarm is the parent colony leaving with its queen, while afterswarms enable multiple offspring production. They propose that a honeybee colony is a lineage of mortal superorganisms, each with a distinct life cycle, rather than immortal.