Reproduction
Reproduction in P. ternarius is usually made by the queen of the colony. The queen comes out of hibernation in late April early June to find a perfect nesting area underground. She then creates a wax around the nest and lays her eggs. The queen determines what the sex of her offspring are and how many she wants in the colony. Fertilized eggs are workers, females, help keep the maintenance of the nest by collecting pollen and nectar until late summer where she switches to laying unfertilized eggs, drones, males which are meant for reproduction. She then begins to lay fertilized eggs that she has chosen to be the next queen for the next summer. Eventually the old workers, drones, and queen dies in mid-Autumn and the cycle starts over again.