77

Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while most species (>90%) – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary.

Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long, to the leafcutter bee Megachile pluto, the largest species of bee, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in).

Bees feed on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for their larvae. Vertebrate predators of bees include primates and birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies.

Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980.

Human beekeeping or apiculture (meliponiculture for stingless bees) has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature from ancient times to the present day, although primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere where beekeeping is far more common. In Mesoamerica, the Mayans have practiced large-scale intensive meliponiculture since pre-Columbian times

Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Eusociality appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterised by cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.

True honey bees (genus Apis, of which eight species are currently recognized) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known insects. Their colonies are established by swarms, consisting of a queen and several thousand workers. Africanized bees are a hybrid strain of A. mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.

Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial Vespidae such as hornets in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming.

Most other bees, including familiar insects such as carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax. Bees collect pollen to feed their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. Solitary bees are important pollinators; they gather pollen to provision their nests with food for their brood. Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Luv bees

Luv bumblebees

'ate wasps

Simple as

[-] Darthsenio_Mall@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

Found a fruiting pawpaw tree todaypossum-party

[-] Rojo27@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

Trying dating app alternatives to Tinder/Hinge/OkCupid and somehow most of them have even worse monetization than those three. Paying to be able to have longer conversations?data-laughing

Worst part is that I'm sure almost all of the accounts that talk with you are bots pushing conversations to the point where you have to pay.

I did match with someone that I've actually had some chemistry with for the first time in forever.

[-] ComradeSpahija@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

Yesterday I took three trains. On the one hand, TRAINS!!!!! aubrey-happy On the other hand, I was in and out of trains for 12 HOURS desolate

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] EstraDoll@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

Yakuza fans when they see some middle aged guy go to a restaurant alone after spending 30 minutes at an arcade claw machine matt

[-] EstraDoll@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

i don't have kazuma kiryu on my hexbear banner, shut up

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] worlds_okayest_mech_pilot@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Just found out about liberalism. Very upset rn

[-] Moss@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

Having such a strange experience rn. I got high earlier, went to sleep, woke up feeling sober. Went downstairs to make dinner, my housemates came in. One of them opened her cupboard and just started meowing. I said "what the fuck" and started laughing my ass off. They both just looked at me like everything was normal and she said "that's the noise I make when I'm out of jars."

That got me questioning if I'm still high, because that was hilarious to me but not to them at all. Then I wondered if I had a normal reaction and THEY'RE high. Our other housemate is quitting weed for 2 weeks so we said we wouldn't be high in the house while she's not using, but I have just been pretending to be sober and now I'm wondering if they are doing the same. What is happening

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago
[-] magi@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] LeylaLove@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

I love getting a discount on drinks at work, tap Guinness makes me so happy

[-] enkifish@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

I've been stuffing more and more native wild flowers in my city plot to attract bees. It's attracting lots of common eastern bumble bees, honey bees, carpenter and mason bees, plus a ton of tiny bees I have no idea how to identify. But the other day I saw the critically endangered rusty patched bumble bee and almost died from delight. Very surprising because they're not supposed to do well in urban environments.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] NeelixBiederman@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

racism-finished Doing a great job with the mega themes @thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net

[-] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Lol I hadn't considered it, but ofc Brace speaks Kurdish.

[-] VHS@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

There is Source Engine everywhere for those with the eyes to see

[-] CrispyFern@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

Exclusive Hexbear LootboxA NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON

LISTEN. HEAR ME AND OBEY.

A FOUL DARKNESS HAS SEEPED INTO MY TEMPLE

A DARKNESS THAT YOU WILL DESTROY

JOURNEY TO MOUNT KILLKREATH

AND I WILL MAKE YOU THE INSTRUMENT OF MY CLEANSING LIGHT

[-] Mindfury@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago
[-] the_itsb@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

Megachile pluto, the largest species of bee

susie-laugh I love your awesome name, MegaChild Pluto

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Frank@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

I watched like five minutes of Rings of Power. It's... Not for me.

But I did realize that the correct way to portray the Elves prior to when they call got sad and became goths is to shoot all of their scenes like Bollywood dance numbers. Everyone's beautiful, everyone dances and sings everything they do, and meanwhile all the other people are being shot, costumed, directed, and lighted like medieval Europeans (which is to say; well made clothes with rich saturated dyes, fancy jewelry, nicely done hair, and 0 people, even the peasants, wearing brown or covered in shit)

You've got to convey that the elves are on a different level from everyone else, that's the whole point of them; Elves are better than you. They're having more fun than you. When they're joyful they're more joyful than you've ever been, and when they're really angry their soul becomes bright and visible and terrifying within them. When their sad the weather gets sad.

You can't do that with realism, you've got to crank it up to hyper-realism, and Bollywood is the only place I can think of where that's consistently done with a high degree of skill, technique, and art.

Also, it should be a running joke that there's a general conspiracy among all men and dwarves trying to figure out when the elves practice the dance numbers because everyone is convinced that even the elves couldn't pull them off without at least a few practice runs.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] wtypstanaccount04@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Was talking with a coworker today and I mentioned that I had bad knees. He asked why and I mentioned that I was fat. He asked me if I chose to get fat and I was like disgost. Yeah dude I totally just chose one day to be less physically attractive and increase various health risks, no environmental factors at all. Fuck you asshole.

[-] wtypstanaccount04@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

Then he asked if I had a gym membership, yeah bud, that's really compatible with a 40 hour work week at a minimum wage retail job. Nothing great for your health like standing in a windowless box for 8 hours every day. Can't wait to get to the gym and hang out with all the manosphere assholes who hate women.

[-] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

you will never be as cool as this guy

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] LeylaLove@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

I just wanna lay my head on a chubby girl's chest and watch some slop, why must the world be so cruel?

[-] WhyEssEff@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

mom was operating under the assumption that AI companies source data with respect to the licensing and rights of the data does-he-know

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] SoylentSnake@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

dicktatorship of the pole-etariat

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

I said you've got a youtube career

Why you taking money from Putin?

He looked at me in his beanie and this is what he said:

There ain't no rest for the wicked

Money don't grow on trees

I got bills to pay

I got mouths to feed

And ain't nothing in this world for free

[-] SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

When you have things to say, but can't, because you're screaming on the inside. possum-mama

[-] PointAndClique@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

Neuroplasticity aubrey-happy

Neuroplasticity deeper-sadness

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

What if instead of people having their own personal testicle there was just one really big one at the center of town and if anyone needed cum they'd just go get it from there?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

Weird thing I've been doing lately where I think I might be onto something, playing drums to the Simpsons and noticing that there is something that does work musically about comedic rhythm, it is also just musical rhythm. If you hi hat tonthe tempo of.the dialogue and bass on the setup and do a rimshot for a punchline like they had drummers do for old timey comedians who'd open for the rat pack or whatever and what started as fucking around became me starting to notice as a Simpsons pervert that different voice actor combos or character combos would generally hit the same marks at the same time.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

I'm watching the tv series Dallas. It's the kind of typical tv I grew up with. It's cheesy and bad so it has nostalgia value.

I'm watching a scene were J.R. and his wife, Sue Ellen, are poolside. She's doing a crossword puzzle and she says "What's a five letter word for water markers?" He replies "buoys". The camera cuts to their sexy sister-in-law who is in the pool floating on her back. Sue Ellen is annoyed.

[-] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

All the good union gooning jobs getting replaced with gig apps

[-] WhyEssEff@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

holy shit, my fucking streamer??? my lowkey goat??? how did I not know about this??? I've been watching this guy on-and-off for years???

was watching hi-fi rush vods and I got fucking jumpscared by the name drop, so I look it up to check if he'd covered it and lea-huh

[-] WhyEssEff@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

actually, entirely, unironically soying out because funny man shares my niche opinion matt

[-] blight@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Dolores@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

when the thumbnail for the mega is loading on mobile the box has the text unlimited genocide on the first world che-smile

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

U.S.ians will write shit like this and never stop to notice that they've only ever skimmed summaries of U.S.ian sources about the USSR:

Imagine an alternate universe where all sources about America were written by Soviets at the height of the Cold War. The historians of the future might get a warped sense of reality.

The rest of the article is about the manuscript tradition and it's fine, but they always have to show their asses, don't they?

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
77 points (98.7% liked)

Earth

12896 readers
1 users here now

The world’s #1 planet!

A community for the discussion of the environment, climate change, ecology, sustainability, nature, and pictures of cute wild animals.

Socialism is the only path out of the global ecological crisis.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS