Bumblebee Queens Can Survive a Week Breathing Underwater

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

A lab mishap at Ontario's University of Guelph led to the discovery that bumblebee queens can survive being submerged underwater for up to seven days. The queens were found to be actively taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide while underwater, even as their metabolism had slowed by about 99%. Researchers suspect the bees are using a physical gill, a thin air layer around the bee that lets gases pass between water and insect body, to breathe while submerged.

Why it matters

This discovery opens up new paths to understanding where and how queen bumblebees survive the winter, as their ancestors evolved in cold, snowy environments where winter burrows often flood when the snow melts. The adaptation may be widespread among the roughly 250 bumblebee species.

The details

Follow-up experiments with more than 100 diapausing queens found they not only survived submersion for seven days, but they were actively taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide while underwater, even as their metabolism had slowed by about 99%. Researchers say the bees also tap into anaerobic respiration when submerged, an oxygen-free way of producing energy that humans use during intense activities like all-out sprints.

• The lab mishap that led to the discovery occurred at Ontario's University of Guelph.
• The findings were detailed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.

What’s next

Future studies will further investigate the physical gill mechanism and the bees' ability to withstand extended submersion.