Placement of new comb cells built by honeybees is guided by sub-cell scale features to align with the existing layout

Abstract

The comb of honeybees has long been the subject of curiosity and admiration. Its noteworthy features include the even hexagonal layout and the sharing of walls, both side walls and bases, that provide a maximum storage volume while using a minimum of wax for its construction. The efficiency of its structure relies on a regular layout where cells are positioned correctly relative to each other. Each new cell should be placed exactly between two previously constructed cells, a task made more difficult by the incomplete nature of cells at the edge of comb where the new ones are to be built. By offering bees shaped wax stimuli we have identified sub-cell scale shapes that trigger certain patterns of behaviour by honeycomb construction workers. These behaviours, we found, cause the creation of a new cell to be aligned to small concavities and for cell walls to be built mid-way between two such stimuli. We show that by responding to the form of partially constructed comb, the bees build the next iteration of cells and walls at the locations necessary for the repeated pattern of cells to continue.