Data for: The significance of Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) gnawing off the old brood cells

Apis cerana cerana has the biological characteristic of gnawing off the old brood cells for rearing multiple generations of workers. This study investigated the internal structure of newly built, old, and semi-rebuilt brood cells and their effects on the morphological development of workers to understand the significance of Apis cerana cerana gnawing off the old brood cells. The structural dimensions of the brood cells and the morphological characteristics of the newly emerged workers were measured. The results showed that Apis cerana cerana gnaw off the old brood cells mainly in two ways either by removing the whole cell or only the cell walls keeping the bases. The workers construct semi-rebuilt brood cells on the foundation of these old cell bases. The main shapes of the newly built, old, and semi-rebuilt brood cells are hexagonal prism, hexagonal prismatic table, and hexagonal prism having three rhombuses, hemisphere, and hemisphere-shaped bases, respectively. The average thickness ..., ,