## 3 Results  
The width of cells in the small-cell combs was significantly smaller (\(p\leq 0.01\)) than that of the standard-cell combs (Table 1). Workers reared in the smComb + smColony variant had a significantly longer and wider thorax and a significantly wider third tergite than those reared in the STComb + smColony and STComb + STColony variants. The larger thorax width with the smaller width of the comb cells resulted in a significantly higher value of the fill factor (thorax width to cell width ratio). The workers reared in the smComb + smColony combination had a significantly longer fore wing and a higher value of the head height than the STComb + smColony workers but did not differ from those reared in the STComb + STColony. In turn, their head width did not differ significantly from that of workers reared in the STComb + smColony variant but was significantly smaller than in the case of the STComb + STColony workers. In comparison with the STComb + STColony group, the STComb + smColony workers exhibited lower values of the following parameters: head width and height, thorax width, fore wing width, fore wing length, and fill factor. There were no significant differences between the groups in the proboscis length, distances a and b of the cubital vein, cubital index, fourth tergite width, and the sum of the widths of the third and fourth tergite. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Groups**} \\ \cline{2-4}
**Traits** & \begin{tabular}{c} **smComb** \\ **+ smColony** \\ **Means**\(\pm\) **SD** \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **STComb** \\ **+ smColony** \\ **Means**\(\pm\) **SD** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **STComb** \\ **+ smColony** \\ **Means**\(\pm\) **SD** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Cell width & 4.94 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 & 5.58 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 & 5.59 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 \\ Head width & 3.93 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.08 & 3.91 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 & 3.98 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 \\ Head height & 3.81 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 & 3.76 \({}^{\text{b}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 & 3.81 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.06 \\ Proboscis length & 6.70 \(\pm\) 0.17 & 6.61 \(\pm\) 0.20 & 6.71 \(\pm\) 0.22 \\ Thorax width & 3.45 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.14 & 3.19 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.11 & 3.31 \({}^{\text{BC}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 \\ Thorax length & 3.65 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.19 & 3.43 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.18 & 3.44 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.15 \\ Wing length & 9.39 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.18 & 9.30 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.22 & 9.56 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.26 \\ Wing width & 3.19 \({}^{\text{a}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 & 3.14 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 & 3.22 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 \\ Distance a of cubital vein & 0.54 \(\pm\) 0.03 & 0.54 \(\pm\) 0.05 & 0.56 \(\pm\) 0.04 \\ Distance b of cubital vein & 0.24 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 0.26 \(\pm\) 0.03 & 0.25 \(\pm\) 0.03 \\ Cubital index (Goetze) & 2.31 \(\pm\) 0.33 & 2.11 \(\pm\) 0.38 & 2.29 \(\pm\) 0.40 \\
3 rd tergite width & 2.53 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 0.12 & 2.42 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.13 & 2.42 \({}^{\text{B}}\)\(\pm\) 0.16 \\
4 th tergite width & 2.38 \(\pm\) 0.08 & 2.44 \(\pm\) 0.13 & 2.41 \(\pm\) 0.10 \\ Sum of widths of the 3 rd + 4 th tergites & 4.91 \(\pm\) 0.13 & 4.86 \(\pm\) 0.15 & 4.84 \(\pm\) 0.13 \\ Fill factor & 69.64 \({}^{\text{A}}\)\(\pm\) 2.77 & 57.78 \({}^{\text{BC}}\)\(\pm\) 2.01 & 59.96 \({}^{\text{BD}}\)\(\pm\) 1.89 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* smComb + smColony--workers reared in small-cell combs in colonies kept on small-cell combs; STComb + SMColony--workers reared in standard-cell combs in colonies kept on small-cell combs; STComb + STColony--workers reared in standard-cell combs in colonies kept on standard-cell combs, a b, differences in the rows are significant at \(p\leq 0.05\); A, B, C, D differences in the rows are significant at \(p\leq 0.01\).  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Values of the width of comb cells [mm], morphometric parameters of workers [mm], and fill factor [%].