Terra Bees

Terra bee’s anatomy depends on their function. Unlike some hive species, they’re unable to physically develop the features for a different role. They have significant anatomical differences between the functions.   All adult terra bees are insects with segmented bodies. They have segmented bodies with a head, thorax, and abdomen. They also have six legs, with the flying workers’ front legs being more raptorial than the other types. All the adults have large complex eyes regardless of their role.  

Workers

  Lifespan: 13 to 14 Months   There are two kinds of workers, flying and burrowing. Most species are predominantly flying type at a 3 to 1 ratio.   Both worker types have strong mandibles made for grabbing and smaller mandibles for eating. The mandibles are shaped differently, with the burrowing mandibles made for chewing through tree trunks. Both also have secondary stomachs, specialized in each for storing the type of food they gather.   As the name suggests, the flying workers have wings. Made for speed and maneuverability, they have a single set of dark membrane wings and small knob-like wings for balance. The pigmented wings are nearly translucent, with a noticeable vein pattern. Some species have a single wing color; others have lighter veins that help them blend into the tree pattern more easily.   The flying worker bees have venomous stingers used for hunting and as a defense mechanism.   Burrowing workers have no wings. Their function is to build the hive and collect sugar for the queen(s). Their mandibles are strong enough to play defense, but the flying workers are the main line of defense.   The burrowers have glands that excrete a special type of saliva used to make the hive.  

Breeders

  Lifespan: Typically only a few weeks, they die after mating. Can survive up to three months without finding a mate.   These do exactly as their name suggests. They look like smaller versions of flying workers. The breeders have mandibles, but will only eat if needed for survival before finding a new hive. They don’t have secondary stomachs. Some species of Terra bee breeders have stingers and some do not. Those that do are just as venomous as the flying workers. All species breed through insemination directly into the queen.  

Queen

  Lifespan: Average 5 sols   The queens have elongated bodies with extended abdomens. How long it extends depends on their ages. The entire queen grows slowly and consistently, but their abdomen will grow longer as they have more offspring. They hold unfertilized eggs internally, only releasing them once they’ve been inseminated.   The queens are a slightly lighter color than the workers and breeders, blending in with the hive itself instead of the tree. They’re solid color. The queen will have wings if she’s been forced to start a new hive. Once the hive is established, she loses them.  

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A hive always starts with the queen. If a hive has three queens, any newly hatched queens will leave. The last eggs laid by a queen reaching the end of her egg laying and life will be three queens. One will replace her. If the hive has three queens, then the other two will leave and start their own separate hives.   A new queen will find a notch or crevice in a tree that provides some protection and camouflage. She will lay her eggs and then build the hive over them. She’ll feed the first brood tree sap so they all become burrowers, and continue the hive.   The queen has only one set of eggs. After that, she’s reliant on a mate. She’ll then put out a large amount of pheromones. Once she’s mated, the queen will have a second and still small brood. She’ll feed them protein to make them all flying workers. The queen can hold on to sperm and control the growth of the hive, ensuring she doesn’t overwhelm the workers with too many offspring.   Once the hive is established, a queen will produce anywhere between 50 and 200 worker eggs per day depending on resources. The eggs and larvae are taken care of by burrowing workers, who drill small holes into the trunk to hold them. They also place their food right into these holes. Worker eggs have the same genetic code. What food they’re provided upon hatching determines their flying verse burrowing development. The flying workers will leave regurgitated proteins for future flying workers, and the burrowers leave regurgitated sap for the future burrowers.   It takes twenty-nine days for the eggs to hatch and fully develop into an adult worker. The breeders require less time at fourteen days, and a queen takes a full month, 33 days, to mature.  

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Terra bees live in large, dense paper hives. From the outside, it looks like an odd lump growing out of a tree. Inside, it’s a series of layers, tunnels, and hex cells similar to some Earthian wasp hives. The back of the hive will be the tree trunk. They don’t cover it since it’s used as a secure space for the offspring. Burrowing workers will also drill into the trunk for sap. They keep these tunnels away from the smaller holes used for offspring.   In a healthy tree, they’ll rarely cause any true damage. In a dying tree, they may burrow too much, attempting to reach the sap. The hive covers the opening to the sap tunnels, protecting them from predators and fungi. The bees will destroy anything that tries to walk through their hive and reach these openings.   Workers make the hive with chewed-up bark fibers mixed with saliva, and it’s typically a shade or two lighter. Colonies that have adapted to the larger Talithan trees can grow massive, with an estimated size of 500,000 in a single colony. Some species keep their hives small, limiting their members to only a couple hundred. There are no known species of solitary terra bees.   The short and dangerous lives of the flying workers typically keep the numbers at bay. In all species, burrowing worker numbers are limited by an unknown mechanism. If there are not enough predators to keep flying worker numbers down, a hive might become overpopulated. Species that breed without limit risk building to the point of the hive falling off the tree. This is rare, however.   The hive has a central chamber for the queen or queens. It has layers of tunnels that keep her safe and dry.   Species that live in colder climates hibernate in the winter. The hive will also protect them from the snow. Flying workers will wake up if the hive is moved too much or attacked. Some species will breed a larger population of flyers right before winter, with enough time for them to mature. In these species, only those in the outer layer of the hide will attack. If the weather is too cold, they’ll die. The workers who are being kept warm by the hive will take their place along the outer edges and hibernate until something wakes them up.  

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All the Great Islands, and some of the medium-sized islands, have species of terra bees. Terra Bees seem to require some space, and are not found on any island less than twenty-five square kilometers. It’s not known why, since the species doesn’t travel great distances from its hive.   They’re initially defined by having two separate worker types and hives in specific tree species. No other known hive species specifically camouflages with the tree they build on. Nor are there many hive species that only build in trees. It’s theorized that they come from a single ancestor from the time, millions of sols ago, when all the islands were a single landmass.  

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