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ENTM News : Tis the swarming season

Tis the swarming season
​Tom TurpinOn Six LegsJune 13, 2013





Social insects use swarming as a process to establish new colonies. Four groups of insects have species that communally live in colonies. These include all termites and ants. Also some wasps, and two species of social bees - bumble bees and honey bees.




There are two types of social insects. Some, including all species of ants and termites and the honey bees have permanent colonies, which last for more than one year. Other social insects have colonies that exist only during the growing season; these are called annual colonies. All social wasps have annual colonies. So do all species of bumble bees.




In honey bees, the swarming process is somewhat different and a bit more complex than in other social insects. The honey bee colony doesn't just produce male and female insects to send out into the world; it also generates a group of colonizers to send on a mission. That group includes the old queen and some workers from her established colony. Such a group of honey bees is known as a swarm, and their mission is to start a new colony.


The honey bee swarming process begins with the production of males, called drones, and reproductive females called queens. Drones come from unfertilized eggs, and that is why it is said that a male honey bee has a mother but no father. Female honey bees result from fertilized eggs; they will be either workers or queens, depending on the quality of food that they receive. The queens are larger than the workers and must be raised in special chambers, known appropriately as queen cells.






Back in the hive, the bees know that a new reproductive queen has returned and the hive prepares to swarm. The worker bees literally pack a lunch for the trip - they fill their crops with honey. The old queen and about 10,000 workers, primarily younger bees, will leave the hive.


These airborne bees swarm around the queen as she flies from the hive. When the queen lands, the other bees cluster around her forming a ball of bees. The bees will stay in that location until a suitable nest site is discovered. Then, the swarm will take to the wing again, this time on the way to their new home. For honey bees, it takes a swarm to start a new colony.