The relation between worker numbers and the production of males and queens in the bumble bee Bombus perplexus

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Abstract
The 1st-brood worker populations of 18 artificially fed colonies of B. perplexus were adjusted to 2, 4 or 8 and allowed to treble with the emergence of the 2nd brood. The timing of male production was independent of the number of workders present and independent of the time of colony initiation. Consequently the duration of the premale period was correlated with the earliness of colony initiation. The 1st queens emerged after a mean delay of 3.2 days after the 1st males, this delay being shorter if more workers were present. The rate of pollen consumption per unit larval area was lower with only 2 workers present than when there were 4 or 8, but no association was found between the time of initiation of queen production and high ratios of worker numbers to larval area.