The Cape honeybee: an example of a social cancer

The infamous African honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata of South Africa is now under threat from a parasite from its own species. Since 1990, a clone of A.m. capensis workers has been invading colonies of A.m. scutellata and parasitizing brood with their eggs, causing the host A.m. scutellata to raise yet more parasitizing workers. A new study by Martin et al. now shows how the A.m. capensis workers subvert the mechanisms that normally prevent worker reproduction.