Beekeeping
The queen is the only sexually mature female in the hive and all of the female worker bees and male drones are her offspring. The queen may live for up to three years or more and may be capable of laying half a million eggs or more in her lifetime. At the peak of the breeding season, late spring to summer, a good queen may be capable of laying 3,000 eggs in one day, more than her own body weight. This would be exceptional however; a prolific queen might peak at 2,000 eggs a day, but a more average queen might lay just 1,500 eggs per day. The queen is raised from a normal worker egg, but is fed a larger amount of royal jelly than a normal worker bee, resulting in a radically different growth and metamorphosis. The queen influences the colony by the production and dissemination of a variety of pheromones or "queen substances". One of these chemicals suppresses the development of ovaries in all the female worker bees in the hive and prevents them from laying eggs.
Lasioglossum zephyrum
"Lasioglossum zephyrum" nests consist of less than 20 individuals. During the spring, around April, new nests are established by one or more females. Some of these nest may never gain more members, and the female will remain solitary. If they do expand, the colony will reach its maximum size of 10–20 around August. Growth of the colony is gradual throughout the summer. Inseminated young queens overwinter in their nests so that the cycle may be repeated. However, overwintered queens are likely to die early on in the summer. After the death of an old queen, a new queen takes over within hours. "L. zephyrum" colonies have a high mortality rate, especially when inhabited by a solitary bee lacking guards.