What developmental stage must a host colony reach before a B. bohemicus queen can successfully invade and take over?
Answer
The host colony has already produced workers
The parasitic success of the *Bombus bohemicus* queen is tightly linked to the developmental stage of the host colony she targets. The invasion is only successful if the host colony has already reached a point where it has produced its first cohort of sterile female workers. These workers are then manipulated by the invading cuckoo queen into raising the cuckoo's subsequent brood, effectively taking over the labor force while the host queen is eliminated. If the parasitic queen arrives too early, before workers are present, the host colony may not be large or robust enough to sustain the takeover, leading to failure.
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