Adaptive Cell Size, Merging, Tilting, and Layering in Honeybee Comb Construction

Abstract

Honeybees are renowned for their skills in building intricate and adaptive hives that display notable variation in cell size. However, the extent of their adaptability in constructing honeycombs with varied cell sizes has not been in-vestigated thoroughly. We use 3D-printing and X-ray Microscopy to quantify honeybees capacity in adjusting the comb to different initial conditions. Using the average area of natural worker cells as a reference, our findings suggest three distinct construction modes when faced with foundations of varying cell sizes. For smaller cell size, bees occasionally merge cells to compensate for the reduced space. However, for larger cell sizes, the hive uses adaptive strategies like tilting for cells up to twice the reference size, and layering for cells that are three times larger than the reference cell. Our findings shed light on honey-bees adaptive comb construction strategies with potential to find applications in additive manufacturing, bio-inspired materials, and entomology.