For example can a Queen Bee or Termite be born to a bee or termite? Or do the parents have to be Queen and King? Or can only Queens lay eggs??
In: Biology
Termites and some ant subspecies: they can and will undergo a metamorphosis and become a queen. This is usually done to establish a satellite colony.
If you’ve ever seen a “flying ant” this is not some separate subspecies of ant; this is just a number (nearly 1% of that colony’s population) of your garden variety ants of that colony who meta-morph in to reproductive (with wings) in order to establish a satellite colony (though if a queen dies, to replace her.)
Some any subspecies do this by “budding” which is a whole different process.
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