Queen Honeybee

The queen honeybee is the most important bee in the colony.  She is responsible for controlling the colony's behavior and laying all the eggs to make the brood, which will mature into adult bees.  Here you can see her surrounded by her retinue, or attendant bees.  All of the retinue are females also.  The attendants take care of her personal needs, such as feeding and cleaning.  As they touch the queen while caring for her, the attendants will pick up her pheromone scent.  They will subsequently pass the scent along to the other bees in the hive, until the entire hive has her scent.  This process of passing along the pheromone scent throughout the hive is how the queen controls the hive and communicates to the other honeybees.

Honeybees and their Life
Honeybee Metamorphosis

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