Minibees: Difference between revisions

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The nests of minibees are located in trees and are made from silk and bits of flora. They often use wood and bark for the exterior to disguise it, while the interior might use a variety of leaves and crystal shells to produce floors and walls. The nests are expanded over time, and they sometimes have secondary nests either as an extension of the main nest or attached somewhere nearby in the same tree. Larger nests will have an open cavity where a minibee can comfortably fly in the middle. An especially popular nest location is within a tree hollow where they are well-hidden and most of the work is done for them. Inside the nests, they store honey and spores. When a minibee dies inside the nest, its carcass is dropped from the nest and usually falls to the ground to be collected by scavengers later. Their honey is usually yellowish because it is made using sugary nectar, unlike the green honey of their ancestors which was made using differently-colored compounds.

Minibees store honey, but do not exclusively eat it in that form. Instead, they mix it with the spores produced by many of the flora they pollinate to produce something resembling bread, which is easier to transport than either ingredient on its own. Social and altruistic, and with every individual being an important part of the colony and its gene pool, minibees will bring this bread to their young, sick, and injured, which will repeatedly lick the air to communicate their hunger. Rarely, they have also been observed offering bread to unrelated small fauna that they perceive as ~~“injured”~~ because of a similar gesture, such as the tongue-flicking of [[sweetworms]], as the instinct to aid one another is strong enough to overcome species boundaries.

Minibees store honey, but do not exclusively eat it in that form. Instead, they mix it with the spores produced by many of the flora they pollinate to produce something resembling bread, which is easier to transport than either ingredient on its own. Social and altruistic, and with every individual being an important part of the colony and its gene pool, minibees will bring this bread to their young, sick, and injured, which will repeatedly lick the air to communicate their hunger. Rarely, they have also been observed offering bread to unrelated small fauna that they perceive as "injured" because of a similar gesture, such as the tongue-flicking of [[sweetworms]], as the instinct to aid one another is strong enough to overcome species boundaries.

Minibees are hermaphroditic and mate several times a year. They are not eusocial, unlike the Terran bees they are named for. They typically mate while out foraging, having a preference for mating outside their colony to maintain genetic health, though they will mate inside their colony over winter. When a colony grows too large to gather enough food, it splits up, with many young minibees leaving to join with dispersers from other colonies to found a new one.

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 The nests of minibees are located in trees and are made from silk and bits of flora. They often use wood and bark for the exterior to disguise it, while the interior might use a variety of leaves and crystal shells to produce floors and walls. The nests are expanded over time, and they sometimes have secondary nests either as an extension of the main nest or attached somewhere nearby in the same tree. Larger nests will have an open cavity where a minibee can comfortably fly in the middle. An especially popular nest location is within a tree hollow where they are well-hidden and most of the work is done for them. Inside the nests, they store honey and spores. When a minibee dies inside the nest, its carcass is dropped from the nest and usually falls to the ground to be collected by scavengers later. Their honey is usually yellowish because it is made using sugary nectar, unlike the green honey of their ancestors which was made using differently-colored compounds.
-Minibees store honey, but do not exclusively eat it in that form. Instead, they mix it with the spores produced by many of the flora they pollinate to produce something resembling bread, which is easier to transport than either ingredient on its own. Social and altruistic, and with every individual being an important part of the colony and its gene pool, minibees will bring this bread to their young, sick, and injured, which will repeatedly lick the air to communicate their hunger. Rarely, they have also been observed offering bread to unrelated small fauna that they perceive as “injured” because of a similar gesture, such as the tongue-flicking of [[sweetworms]], as the instinct to aid one another is strong enough to overcome species boundaries.
+Minibees store honey, but do not exclusively eat it in that form. Instead, they mix it with the spores produced by many of the flora they pollinate to produce something resembling bread, which is easier to transport than either ingredient on its own. Social and altruistic, and with every individual being an important part of the colony and its gene pool, minibees will bring this bread to their young, sick, and injured, which will repeatedly lick the air to communicate their hunger. Rarely, they have also been observed offering bread to unrelated small fauna that they perceive as "injured" because of a similar gesture, such as the tongue-flicking of [[sweetworms]], as the instinct to aid one another is strong enough to overcome species boundaries.
 Minibees are hermaphroditic and mate several times a year. They are not eusocial, unlike the Terran bees they are named for. They typically mate while out foraging, having a preference for mating outside their colony to maintain genetic health, though they will mate inside their colony over winter. When a colony grows too large to gather enough food, it splits up, with many young minibees leaving to join with dispersers from other colonies to found a new one.

Minibees: Difference between revisions

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