"Anarchist bees" are rare genetic mutants that lay eggs even if they're not the queen, and do not destroy the eggs of other anarchist non-queens. Through selective breeding, it is possible to create queenless "anarchist hives" where the sisters do it for themselves.
Naturally anarchic hives contain a few dozen laying workers, and seem to function well. But by selective breeding, Oldroyd and his colleagues have got the egg-layers up to about 40% of the workforce. In these hives, breeding workers neglect their chores and the hives become decadent to the point of collapse2. "They can barely feed themselves, and they do weird things like trying to raise queens out of male larvae," Oldroyd says.
These selectively bred anarchist hives have some other odd features. Normal workers transplanted into them may start laying, which suggests that the queen's pheromones are weaker than normal. Most strangely, taking the queen out of an anarchic colony – which triggers worker egg-laying in normal hives – causes anarchic workers' eggs to lose their deceptive properties. They are eaten if transplanted into a normal hive, says Oldroyd.
(via Interconnected)
