Why There Are Queen Bees But No King Bees

Cameron Duke of MinuteEarth explained why there are queen bees but no king bees due to the fact that the queen lays all the eggs in the hive and the males who mate with her promptly die.

When a male honey bee mates with  a queen, his abdomen bursts open.  …The queen bee isn’t a queen in the sense that she makes rules – she’s a queen in the sense  that she lays all the eggs, which makes her the doted-upon mother  of all of the bees in the hive.

Unlike termites, who have both a king and queen, the unique biology of honeybees make it impossible for male royalty as the queen doesn’t necessarily need the male issue to create new life. The chromosomal material of male honeybees only comes into play to create more females for the hive.

But here’s where things get weird – honey bee eggs can become baby bees even without  a male’s chromosomal contribution. The difference is that fertilized  eggs ….develop into female bees, any of which could become a new  queen under the right conditions, and unfertilized eggs….become male bees.