What term refers to the immature bees in their stages of development?

The term that refers to the immature bees in their stages of development is brood. This encompasses all stages of a bee's lifecycle before they emerge as adult bees, including eggs, larvae, and pupae. The brood is an essential part of a colony, as it ensures the growth and sustainability of the hive.

Worker bees, while crucial for various tasks such as foraging and hive maintenance, are the adult form and not the immature stages. Swarm refers to a group of bees, typically including a queen and some workers, that leave the original colony to establish a new one, and it’s not related to the developmental stages of bees. Drones are male bees whose primary role is to mate with a queen, and they are also in the adult stage rather than the immature stages referred to by brood. Therefore, brood accurately captures the concept of the developing bees within the hive.