ID, I certainly listen to you my friend. No, I have not seen open larva in a starve out hive. But I might add, I have never seen a starved out hive that I thought the queen was laying. I have seen pupae, capped with pin hole in a dead out.
Let me clarify, I have never seen a hive die without honey in the combs. Every dead out always had honey. Many a times I have seen dead outs, winter kill, with honey on the very frame as the cluster, but the other end of the frame. The honey, although only inches away, was to far away for bees to reach with temps in single digits.
So ID, do bees eat larva without cannibalize pheromone? I did not think so, however, you have so many years experience, commercial I might add, if you say they do, then I will believe you. I certainly don?t have the experience as you, I would be a fool not to listen to a wise one as ID, a man that has earned my respect, a man that worked bees as a living, totally different from a hobbyist as myself.
Blessings