Three mechanisms of queen elimination in swarming honey bee colonies

Queen elimination in honey bee colonies is a process by which all but one of the unmated queens produced during colony fission (swarming) are eliminated from the parental nest. Queens are eliminated by three mechanisms: queen-queen duels, pre-emergence destruction, and departure with a secondary swarm. Here we describe each of these mechanisms of elimination and address important questions about queen elimination using detailed records of events from 13 observation-hive colonies undergoing queen elimination. We make the following conclusions. ( 1) The events during queen elimination occur in two distinct patterns: queen duels with secondary swarm departures, and no queen duels with pre-emergence destruction of all of the first-emerging queen's rivals. ( 2) The timing of secondary swarm departure is related to the events of queen elimination. ( 3) Queen duels are a common mechanism of elimination. ( 4) Workers play a significant but non-lethal role in queen elimination. ( 5) Queen elimination in European and African honey bee colonies is similar but the patterns of events may differ.