The peanut-shaped compartments where future queens grow up seem to play an important role in development. The wax has ...

In chess, the queen is the most valuable piece for a player. She’s capable of making any move, which also makes her the most protected after the king. In a bee colony, the queen holds the same rank.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The queen, on the right with a larger, darker body, is bigger than the worker bees in the colony and lives several times longer.

Worker bees help decide which bumblebee larvae become queens by feeding them juvenile hormone during growth period.