"How can it not be topical ?"
Lacks relevance LJ... in respect of the thread topic, recognising this quote
sets the form of the question;
"Who kills who in the honeybee queen world?".
Applying Occam(R) the experiment pointed to is more of "survival of the fittest" as there are
no other influencing factors as implied by the OP's question.
And Mr. Newton?
Issac would use the subjective to explain a shortcut to acceptance in using "appearances", this
methodology is at the core of assumptions.
When widely accepted - as it is/was seen too hard or laborious to prove - we are asked questions
such as the OP poses. The "but why" of an enquiring mind.
Here are two captures of a video where the narrator describes what he was told he would see and
so did see, an assumption the information passed on was true/proven. An Issacism... if you like :-)
http://tinypic.com/r/2u8xwfn/9http://tinypic.com/r/24zj6ab/9In fact what he did see was a queen, maybe a virgin, who knows, attacking a newly born worker.
Yet it is there on the record (youtube.com) as "Virgin queen killing other queens".
https://m.you tube.com/watch?v=6iW5FxyPVYQ
..rip it, freeze frame, and check the jpegs.
Cheers.
Bill