Moon Bee

Buzz, buzz, silly little bee.
Fly away home to your honey tree.
Past the flowers and around the bend.
When you return, we don’t know when.
Be wary of their sting and serious bite.
They guard all day and come out at night.

— Local Nursery Rhyme

Moon Bees, sometimes called "Night Bees", were often referred to as Luna Bees in the ancient past. This nocturnal bee is a highly social insect with clear divisions of labor and a caste system. These rare insects are highly prized for their honey production and pollinating benefits.

Basic Information

Anatomy

This creature resembles the typical species of honey bee that can be found flying among the flowers of many nations. It consists of three main body parts, a head with two large compound eyes, two antennae, and a mouth with sharp mandibles and a long tongue. The mid section or thorax contains four flexible wings and six legs. The abdomen contains the stomach and many internal organs along with a sharp barbed stinger.

Genetics and Reproduction

A typical colony of bees has one female “Queen” bee, a few thousand male drone bees, and tens of thousands of female worker bees.
Eggs are laid one at a time by the queen into a cell in the honeycomb. At this time the queen may lay either unfertilized or fertilized eggs. The unfertilized eggs will develop into male drones while the fertilized eggs will develop into either female workers or a female queen, depending on what they are fed. Honey and pollen feedings result in workers while “Royal Jelly” feedings result in queens.

Growth Rate & Stages

Workers typically take 21 days to develop. After hatching, the young larva undergo several molting stages and become young worker bees. There are around 60,000 workers in a typical hive. They have specialized body parts such as a pollen basket, abdominal glands that produce beeswax, brood-feeding glands, and barbs on the stinger.  When the stinger is used, it is pulled out from the abdomen and causes the bee to die.
Drones usually take 24 days to develop and hatch in the summer months. They have large eyes for locating the queens for mating. They do not have a stinger and do not defend the hive or kill intruders. A hive may have up to 500 drones in it. 
Queens take 16 days to develop and are produced when larva are fed royal jelly exclusively. They are much larger than the other bees and have a barbless stinger that can be used multiple times. They can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.

Ecology and Habitats

Very hot, very cold, very dry, and very wet areas prevent the bees from living there.  They do require water and the specific Moonflower in order to feed and thrive.  Moon Bees can only be found in environments with large number of these flowers.  Moonflower fields and grasslands near streams or forest edges make for the ideal spot to search for these rare bees.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Pollen and nectar provide all of the sustenance required by the bees. These, combined with water allow the bees to produce specific types of food for their young (brood food) and queens (royal jelly).

Biological Cycle

In late spring or early summer a mated queen and a swarm of workers leave the hive to start their own new colony. This new colony is prescouted and the bees immediately begin construction on the new hive upon arrival. 
In winter months the bees cluster around the queen to keep her warm through shivering and during the summer months they fan her to keep her cool. Drones are expelled from hive during winter months. This saves valuable resources for the queen and workers.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The queen controls all aspects of the hive. She uses pheromones to control and communicate with worker bees. 
The workers are charged with simple cleaning tasks and larva feeding before advancing to nectar storage and guard duty. Eventually they take flight and become foragers. Workers cooperate through varied dances to communicate resources, food location, and assistance, as well as other information. 
The drones task is to leave the hive and seek out queens to mate with. They will not mate with queens from their own hive and die during or shortly after mating. 
The queens main job is to lay eggs and produce new workers, drones, and queens. She will leave the hive to seek out multiple drones to mate with before returning. The queen never mates with drones from her own hive.

Domestication

Although these animals cannot be trained in the usual sense of the word, they can be used to help farmers and bee keepers alike. Artificial hives are often created by bee keepers in order lure in new queens and start new bee colonies. Not only does this aid in propagating the species by giving them an ideal living environment, but also benefits the Moonflower crop by aiding in its pollination, and also provides the bee keeper with the rare Silver Honey.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

These rare creatures have several uses, the most common being used as source of pollination in farm lands and several of their byproducts are sold in many markets throughout the world.
Royal Jelly is often harvested from large, successful hives and sold as a medicinal cure all, claiming to have many health benefits.
Bee Brood, consisting of the bees eggs, larva, and pupae are eaten as a nutritious delicacy in some parts of the world. 
Silver Bees Wax is quite sought after for candle making, waterproofing, soap, cosmetics, art, and furniture polish. 
Silver Honey has many uses in food consumption and is often fermented into Moon Mead. It has also recently been rediscovered as a preventative means to stave off lycanthropy and as a potential ingredient in lycanthropy cures.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

This rare bee species can be found in almost all temperature climates, particularly equatorial through temperate zones.  Cold weather does not agree with them and is a limiting factor halting their spread into the northern or high altitude areas. Additionally any hot, dry zones will also prevent the bee from successfully colonizing the area.

Average Intelligence

For such a small creature, these bees have a surprising intellect and communication system. While they do have a small midbrain, it provides them with a small amount of simple awareness and use light sensors and wind detection hairs to help them navigate to a particular location.
When communicating with other bees they will use a combination of chemical pheromones, antennae movements, and dances to relay the type, direction, and distance that the specific resources can be found.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The bees compound eyes are made up of hundreds of single eyes that give a much larger range and angle of sight.  Not only can they see colors but also the ultraviolet light that many flowers reflect, helping the bee to find them.  The eyes also see the polarized sunlight through the clouds so that the bee can navigate even on cloudy days.  Small hairs on the eyes also detect wind movement, aiding the bees in flight.  Strong smell and pheromone detectors allow the bee to find nectar and communicate with other bees.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

The Moon Bees enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the Moonflower, providing pollination and protection in exchange for pollen and nectar.  It could also be said that a working relationship exists between the bees and the bee keeper as well.  While they reluctantly provide the Silver Honey, the keeper maintains a large area of the flowers as well as maintaining and protecting the hive from larger forces that the bees could not.

Scientific Name

Apis Luna

Lifespan

The lifespan of this species depends upon the caste of the bee. Worker bees typically live for a few months to a year, drone bees survive for only one season, while the queen may live for several years.

Conservation Status

This species is very rare and thought to be endangered, however there are no specific laws, regulations, or programs protecting this species. Many farmers and bee keepers have taken it upon themselves to safeguard these rare bees.

Average Length

Typical worker bees are about one and a half inches in length, while drones are about two inches long, and the queens are about two and a half inches in length.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Although very similar in appearance to other honey bees, the Moon Bees are slightly larger and have a vibrant silver body coloring and dark black stripes.

Related Materials

• Silver Honey

SYMBOLISM
Symbols, images, carvings, and talismans of the bee often signify immortality and resurrection. 
In ancient times the Moon Bees were believed to be born from the tears of the Moon Goddess, Livana. 
The elven nation of Ayin Kara uses the Moon Bee as its national symbol and can also be found in its coat of arms, military insignias, and crowns.

DEFENSE
During times when defense is necessary, individual worker bees will sting the intruders and release a danger pheromone to call other bees to the location. In addition to stinging, the bees can also surround the intruder in a ball of bees and increase the heat and carbon dioxide to lethal levels.