#Please point out any typos or erroneous information.

[eukaryotesrool]

Pantherinae

Today we're doing an overview of Pantherinae

(From top left to bottom right: clouded leopard, Sunda clouded leopard, leopard, snow leopard, tiger, jaguar, lion)

All these fine felines are members of the subfamily Pantherinae, one of the two main subfamilies of Felidae (true cats), along with Felinae, which includes cheetahs, house cats, and more.

The animals listed above also happen to be all 7 species of the subfamily, split across two genuses (Panthera and Neofelis) so, a much smaller group than antelope, we went over last time.

(Leopard and cub being adorable, oh-ma-gosh!)

So, that's a lot of leopard, huh? Well, leopard is kinda a meaningless term, the cuties above (Panthera pardus) are more closely related to lions! (Panthera leo) than they are to snow leopards (Panthera uncia), and all those animals are more closely related to eachother than P. pardus is to either clouded leopard, who are both members (and the only members) of the genus Neofelis.

Pantherinids have a unique hyoid bone, and elastic tendons which gives their larynx (AKA the 'voice box') extra mobility, further modifications allow most members of Panthera to roar, whereas Neofelis and Pantherinae's sister subfamily, Felinae, cannot.

Alright, enough about the subfamily, lets get into the notable individuals real quick!

The best scientific name

(Inspite of their name the genus Neofelis predates most extant members of their sister genus (Panthera) such as tigers or snow leopards)

Neofelis ('neo' meaning new and 'felis' meaning feline, or, cat) nebulosa (couldn't find a reputable explanations, so my source is Google translate, fuck it, they claim 'nebulosa' means foggy, most likely referencing the cloud/fog like pattern.) But why do I like this name... well, it's so fucking cool! I can't really explain it in words, but Neofelis nebulosa just sounds so spacey and sci-fi in a way I REALLY dig.

The littlest baby

(Even though I used an image of a baby, this category is determined by adult sizes and the name is a misnomer)

Oh, that cat again, Neofelis nebulosa sweep!?

Topping on average out at- holy hell! 78.5 inches (199 cm) how is this the littlest baby!? Well, because they have long tails and tails, as we all know, are neat but, don't count.

TRULY topping out on average at a respectable 42.5 inches (108 cm) and 51 lb (23133.2 grams) not tiny by any means, but this arboreal sweety is up against the likes of lions and jaguars, tough competition.

N. nebulosa is also slightly smaller than its sister species N. diardi, which grows up to 43 in (108 cm) and 57 lb (26 kg)

The weirdest

(I don't care if it mauls me, I shall hug it)

The snow leopard or Panthera uncia.

Uniquely adapted for the cold, such as broad paws for snow-walking and minimizing heat loss, as well as thick, warm, fur.

They are the only member of Panthera (the genus) which cannot roar, they have some of the necessary adaptions (such as a partialy ossified hyoid bone) but its vocal folds lack the proper size. Its general facial structure also differs from other Panthera animals.

Though, they use similar adaptions (such as a large tail) as their arboreal sister and cousin species to maneuver rocky terrain.

The most Pantherinae-y

(Can't think of unique commentary, cute, okay, lets move on)

Could the mascot of PANTHERinae be anything but a black panther? Well, yeah, it kinda has to be, black panthers are simpy Pantherids (mostly the leopard or jaguar) with a rare disorder known as melanism.

(So precious)

So I think the most Pantherinae-y is the leopard! It just feels the most Pantherinae-y to me, here, have a pic of a melanistic leopard and their mate, because I'm generous.

The biggest baby

(So majestic...)

Tiger (Panthera Tigris), measurements come from the largest subspecies, the Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris)

Truly earning the title of big cat, males can grow up to 112 in (285 cm) in main-body length

Since we were just talking about melanism, I might as well show you these special lads with leucism, white tigers!

My favorite

(Daww, what a lovely dad!)

Lions! Or Panthera leo, I've adored this fluffy apex predators since I was but a wee boy. If I had a nickel for every franchise centered upon a lion character or characters I enjoyed, I'd have two nickels (The Lion King, Jungle Emperor Leo) so, uh, what can that get me in this economy?

Lions are a keystone species, meaning they have a uniquely strong affect on their environment, they are highly skilled hunters with a 25% success rate in hunts, being much more successful when working in groups than when lone, they will also scavange and steal from other predators, such as lycaons and hyenas.

The most threatened

Tragically, the jaguar (ranked at near threated by the IUCN) is the only member of Pantherinae to be ranked below vulnerable.

The tiger is the most threatened of the subfamily, the IUCN classing it at the well known rank, endangered.

Poaching and habitat fragmentation/loss have devestated this species, but conservation efforts are vast, and proving rather effective.

India achieved its goal of doubling tiger populations of 2011, in 2019.

Russia's Siberian tiger came from a terrible population estimate of 40, but in 2015 estimates showed a population of 480 to 540! Over a 100 times bigger, not perfect, but MUCH better!

More and more reserves are popping up to protect this wonderful lifeform, and in the process they protect numerous other species who share the tiger's habitat.

[eukaryotesrool]

EukaryotesRool tag key

I've given my posts tags to fit them into different groups.

SpeciesRunDown: The classic post, I pick a species and go through various details of it.

TaxonOverview: I pick a taxonomic group, give an overview of it, and then talk briefly talk about members of it.

QuickFacts: Where I quickly go over a specific zoological (or of a related field) fact/detail.

FanboyMode: Where I talk about a work of fiction, usually with real life (zoology especially) information mixed in.

Metapostian(hehe): Posts about the blog itself, like this one!

DoodlesRool: Random doodles, of animals, generally.

My need for defining and grouping made me do this, hopefully it is of use.

[eukaryotesrool]

Leucism and Kimba

So this is gonna be real life facts (ones I'd say are interesting) mixed with some fan stuff, you don't need to know about the franchise to understand this, but it will be long and only slightly hinged.

Grab a snack, a drink annnnnnd...

What is a Kimba?

(Kimba (1965) running)

This guy, the titular hero of Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion franchise (AKA Jungle Emperor Leo(direct translation), Janguru Taitei(untranslated title))

For now, all you folks need to know about him is that he comes from a long lineage of lions with uniquely white fur.

Gee, you know what else relates to lions, white fur, and genetics, oh boy, a segway into the next thi-

What is a leucism?

(Pronounced 'luke-ism')

(Animals with a leucistic disorder, leucistic peacocks look neat, though, they all do)

leucism is a variety of conditions causing a lack of pigmentation in animals.

"Isn't that albinism?"

They're comparable, but seperate, their causes are different, also no leucistic condition removes eye pigmentation, so, Kimba's blue eyes aren't a problem.

(Kimba (1965) running, he does that a lot)

Now I'd like to go over every major leucistic condition and compare/contrast them to what we can note about Kimba.

No, I am not joking.

(OH MY GOD ITS SO CUTE I- er, this is a real life white lion cub, owing its white fur to a leucistic disorder)

Something to remember, most of these conditions don't (or don't to our knowledge) affect lions and could be easily swatted aside as such, but KTWL (Kimba the White Lion) is a work of fiction which consistently does absurd things, for example, Great Mother, a surviving mammoth who lives on a magic mountain and has magic powers or a blue lion (no I won't tell you what makes him blue), so I'm willing to brush aside SOME realism... also I researched them so I want to talk about them.

Yes, there is a condition that causes real life white lions, buuuuut I'm saving that can of worms for later.

Easily disproven

These ones don't work for several reasons, I'll be using only the most glaring issues for the sake of brevity.

Vitiligo & flavism: These two conditions happen over the course of one's life, but we see Kimba near birth, and he possessed his white fur.

Chédiak–Higashi syndrome: Causes symptoms (including but not limited to: peripheral neuropathy) which Kimba almost certainly does not have.

Isabellinism: affects only birds and leads to a golden white, not a snowy one.

(An isabellinistic bird, majestic fellow, eh?)

Xanthochromism: Makes things fucking yellow.

(A xanthochromistic (pictured right) and normal (pictured left) Argentine horned frog, so cool.)

Axanthism: only affects things with light reflecting pigments, and can only make things with normally yellow color have white color.

Amelanism: Meaning lacking melanin, so those black tipped ears and tail would be a no-no, yet we observe numerous pelts of his ancestors all with the exact same ears, and, we have reason to believe, the exact same tail (his father also possessed the same tail)

Okay, that was the bulk of the list, we're making good progress.

Maybe

These ones are harder to disprove, but I'd still say they're obviously not what we're looking for.

Piebaldism: Now, this one seems convincing as it can generate black AND white fur, it is genetically dominant, therefore, could lead to the continous lineage (where at least one of few children seems to always inherit it) but it lacks the uniformity, as I said, every white lion posses the same pattern, with few inconsistently appearing exceptions within the franchise, we'll get to that later on, the point is, consistency is the rule, chaos is the exception, and piebaldism is too chaotic.

(Piebaldistic animals. That squirrel looks so neat! Like his back is covered in snow!)

Waardenburg syndrome: Specifically type two is a strong contender, most notably because it causes bright blue eyes (or a blue and brown eye, sometimes) along with its other effects, HOWEVER, it also causes congenital hearing loss, and in cats (Felis Catus or house cats, technically, but they're the closest comparison I have to lions) said hearing loss is more common and more extreme, I doubt Kimba has that. Type 1 and type 3 cause other malformities that Kimba visibly doesn't posses.

Not sure

I tried, but my research was not conclusive, if you have answers, I'd be glad to hear them.

melanophilin: it is listed, but isn't a disorder, it is a carrier protein, I did some research and disorders with this protein don't seem like they'd make the snow white color we're looking for.

Undisputable

Oh, uh, there's nothing here, we've gone over every major leucistic disorder, there ARE more, but we'd be here all day, and so little is known about them it'd be arbitary.

Well, we're not through with every leucistic condition on the agenda, there's still...

THE CAUSE OF REAL WHITE LIONS

That's right, we've made it.

There's obviously a myriad of similarities, Tezuka was probably inspired by the real life white lions.

For example

(Pictured left, Kimba (1989 anime series) and his love inyerest, Raiya, a fellow lion, but not a white lion. Pictured right, two lionesses, one being a white lion)

The jarringly (among other lions) snow white fur.

(Sorry the images of Kimba's paw sucks, you won't believe it, but it was SO difficult to find a pic online with his paw pads in it, real life white lions? Pfft plenty of pictures in an instant.)

(Yes, pink is the unpigmented color for paw pads)

The pink paw pads

(Pictured left, Kimba's father (2009 movie) pictured right OH MY GOD SO CUTE)

The genetic basis allowing for lineages that share the trait

So then, this is it?... no, no, no, no, sadly, no, not so simple, there is one glaring inconsistency.

Firstly, an aside: I tried researching the specific cause of white lion leucism (it comes from a mutation for tyrosinase) but very little is known about it exactly, though, I gleaned something just by using the oldest tool in the zoology briefcase, me own eyes.

Notice a difference between Kimba and EVERY image of a white lion I've provided? Here, have some more white lion.

(Look at 'em all!)

From male to female, newborn, to cub, to adult, one consistency that Kimba does not share, maybe you already noticed and want me to get to the fucking point, maybe I will, maybe I won't, okay, I will.

(Circles denoting where Kimba posseses the trait, 'x's denoting where the real lion cub does not)

Black fur, Kimba has black fur on the tips of his ears and tail, no image of a real life white lion that I've seen has that pattern, or ANY black fur (wait, did I just retread my point about amelanism? Damn), and I'm lead to believe that does not occur amongst real life white lions, so then...

Kimba is a an anomaly

(From top left to bottom right Kimba's aunt (1989) Kimba's father (2009) and Kimba's father (1989)

In the 2009 version the only white lions we see are Kimba and his dad, and his dad lacks the black fur, in the 1989 series the only white lions we see are Kimba, his dad and aunt, both of the latter lack the black fur, but Kimba retains it in all versions.

Perhaps the cause of white lions is the same as real life white lions, and Kimba is a very rare anomaly within an anomaly, I don't know a whole lot about genetics, but that sounds reasonable enough for KTWL standards.

Buuuuuut, every other version, including the manga that started it all has other white lions retain the same color palette, and even show dozens of white lion ancestors, and a DISTANT white lion ancestor who all have the same palette, so, this anomaly theory is ironically only relevent to anomalies, the 1989 series and 2009 movie, what about for the whole franchise, well...

I don't know

Here's where I'd like to pull something out my hat and save the day with the obvious and true answer... but, there isn't one, at least, not one I found, sooooo, yeah, everyone must come to their own conclusion, maybe you even disagree with some of my reasoning and come to a conclusuon I've disregarded!

I'd love to hear your take away, and what comes next is merely my own personal take.

I don't know (good ending)

i don't know, and that's the point, I like that conclusion, the Kimba franchise contains mystisms, but never delves into them, leaving them as strange mysteries, it is a story about the exotic, it is ever out of reach.

I choose to believe white lions are semi-magical, thus why Kimba's lineage is the ONLY white lions we see in a franchise that stretches from 1950 to 2009, with over a hundred episodes, thus why white lions seem to always produce a white lion cub, but usually only ONE white lion cub, and the rest resemble the mother, because it works by magic rules.

In the 1989 version(and possibly others) Kimba is directly or indirectly likened to the supernatural, the Great Mother, a huge mammoth who can summon powerful snow storms in tropical Africa treats Kimba as such.

Simply, it can't be explained IRL, that's pretty cool, not everything needs to be explained, and MAGIC!

Thanks for sticking around through my insanity, hope you learned something and had fun, I did!

(Normally I'd put a pic riiight here to close things off but I hit the Tumblr image limit, didn't even know they had one)

[eukaryotesrool]

Costasiella kuroshimae (AKA leaf sheep and leaf slug) are remarkable aside from being a total cutie

(Look at the wittle lad!!!!)

They are molluscs, sea slugs specifically, they range from 0.20 inches (5 millimetres) to 0.39 inches (1 centimetre) in length

(Pretty)

So, animals, yeah? WELL they can photosynthesize! Technically they're just retaining chloroplasts (the thingy that makes the photos do the thing and get energy synthasized) from the algae they consume (a process known as kleptoplasty) but even if brief and kinda indirect, THEY PHOTOSYNTHESIZE!!!

(Those long bits by the 'face' are rhinophores, which help sense smell or taste rhinos)

Now, I'm gonna go whatever the evolution/zoology version of an armchair psychologist is mode.

What does this mean for evolution!? The mitochondria (powerhouse of the cell) is theorized to have been absorbed by our eukaryote ancestors, what if the same thing happens with chloroplasts!? And these slug lads evolve into animals with natural photosynthesis!? That's be pretty tubular and down with the sickness, I know that for sure.

Anyway, TLDR: they cute, they slug, they eat Sun.

[eukaryotesrool]

Antelope

Alrighty, I'd like y'all to imagine an antelope, envision it, NOW.

Good? Then continue.

(Antelope overload)

Did you imagine a hoofed animal? Perhaps in grassy Africa? Grazing? Perchance, like the charming fellows above?

Well, all of the above are antelope! So what is 'antelope'? A family? An order even? No, and no, though, its related to a family in that it is a collection of genuses, but it's what's called a wastebasket taxon.

An antelope must be part of the family bovidae and NOT be a goat, sheep, or other cattle, the EXACT rules are a touch shaky because, well, antelope is (I believe) a polyphyletic grouping, meaning the group neither posses the common ancestor of all members of the group (which would be paraphyletic) or the common ancestor AND all descendents of that ancestor (which would be monophyletic, which makes something a true clade).

But there's still some meaning to the word, 91 entire species of antelope roam Africa, India, Central Asia, the Middle East, and even a small part of Eastern Europe.

(Illustration from The History of Four-footed Beasts (1607))

In much of ye old Europe the antelope was strangely viewed as a mighty beast of prey, with horns of razor and the heart of a wolf.

(Coat of arms of the Dule of Abercorn)

This design was used largely for heraldry, and still sticks around today, I think it looks neat.

Now, lets go over specific antelope, I've chosen based on very good reasons.

Best scientific name

(A kob)

Some scientific names repeat themselves, such as Vulpes vulpes, those ones are easy to remember, some species names are used as a common name, such as Arcticitis binturong

Then you have...

THE KOBUS KOB, near perfection, the generic name is very similar to the species name, and the species name is also a major common name, tremendous bonus points because it sounds funny

Even more bonus points because there's a subspecies called the Kobus kob kob, perfection, no notes.

The littlest baby

(So cute, squeeeee!)

The royal antelope, known scientifically as Neotragus pygmaeous, it's one of a large (unlike them, hehe) number of 'dwarf antelope' but the royal antelope is the littlest among them.

Standing up to 10 inches (25 cm) tall and weighing in at (at the upper end) 6.6 lb (3 kg), that footlong hotdog you had for lunch is longer than this lad is tall!

(A wittle baby royal antelope)

Little is known about these jungle-dwelling cuties, they mysteriously wander hidden in foliage.

The weirdest

(Such a silly guy!)

The saiga (Saiga tatarica) I mean, just look at him! This antelope lives mostly in Russia, making it an oddity in geographic location too!

Their strange downward curved nose is mysterious, and seems to serve many purposes, keeping warm, filtering out dust they inhale, and, of course, an amazing sense of smell!

They even communicate with loud nasally roars!

The most antelope-y

(Such antelope, much cute)

Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomaonii) will always be the masoct of antelopes, the true antelope, to me.

It's still exceptional though, the fourth fastest land animal, running up to 50-55 MPH (80-90 KM/H) cheetahs (the fastest land animal) are their main predator. They're also sometimes called tommies!

The biggest baby

(They tall)

The fittingly names giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus)!

Standing between 7.19 and 9.55 feet (219 and 291 cm) tall, females weighing between 660 and 1320 pounds (300 a and 600 kg) and the larger males weighing from 880 up to 2650 pounds (400 to 1200 kg)!

My Favorite!

Yes, that's the royal antelope, it was love at first sight, okay? They're perfect! The saiga and Thomson's gazelle are the runner ups.

The most threatened

Sadly, there are several terribly threatened antelope, the hirola, or Beatragis hunteri is the worst off, considered critically endangered by the IUCN, there is only two levels worse than that, extinct in the wild, and truly extinct.

Less than 500 remain, none in captivity. Neither humanity nor nature have been too kind to this critter, hunting, habitat loss, disease and more have devestated this poor creature, the lowered elephant population causes bush enchroachment, harming the hirola, giving a good show of the domino effect of extinction, but its not all bad.

August twelth is hirola day! Human's have begun manually trimming brush, to keep the habitat of the hirola (and other species) in place, if they did go extinct it'd be the first time a mammalian genus has gone extinct in mainland Africa in modern human history, lets try not to lose the record we have going.

I have hope.

Sadly, the saiga is, yet again, a runner up, it too is critically endangered, along with other antelopes.

[eukaryotesrool]

(ART) Red Fox

Pixel art I doodled of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Here, have some fun red fox facts so this isn't JUST a silly doodle.

Vulpes vulpes has FORTY FIVE individual subspecies, and there's still other foxes in the Vulpes genus!

They have a wide variety of vocalizations.

Their hearing is amazing, they can hear a mouse squeak from a hundred feet away! And they're sensitive to high frequencies on a level comparable to dogs, and low frequencies comparable to a cat! They have one of the best sensitivities among mammals.

While they prefer being out in the open, but in the winter, or when they have cubs (or kittens, or pups, all are applicable names to baby foxes) they'll use burrows, foxes can dig their own, but may also use ones previously dug by themselves, other foxes, or other large animals

They're (generally) good parents! Fathers stick around to feed mom, so she can give the kittens milk, and then take over feeding the pups as they grows older, the mother (and presumably the father) visciously defends their children. But they will often kill the cubs of other foxes, especially those of subordinate females, and aren't above killing their own in certain scenarios, no species is perfect all the time though.

Dunno what I did to mess up this version of the image, but it looks metal TBH, I dig the grunginess, ya feel me?

I've tagged this post and will tag any other doodle posts (if/when I do them) 'DoodlesRool'

I almost posted this with a typo where I claimed they could hear a mouse squeak from a hundread "miles" away, I'm a dunce, that's a big reason why I include that error/typo tag on every most.

[eukaryotesrool]

Giant Panda

Scientifically known as: Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Ailuro meaning cat, poda meaning foot, melano meaning black, leuca meaning white, black and white cat foot!)

(Look at 'em go!)

AKA: Panda bear, giant bear cat (In the original Taiwenese langague: 大貓熊) avoid using just 'panda' unless other people know what you're talking about, not only does it confuse things with the red panda, but the red panda is more accepted to have that name (however I'd recommend avoiding use of it with the red panda too)

(This species has two subspecies, pictured left: the rarer brown panda/Qinling panda, A. m. qinlingensis, which inhabits only the Qinling mountains. Pictured right: the nominate more well known subspecies A. m. melanoleuca)

Because of their somewhat poorly adapt oringinally carnivourous digestive tracts panda bears get little energy from their herbivorous diet, most of their energy comes from the shoots of bamboo, so they eat a LOT in shoot season (April to August) to be prepared prepared for needing to eat the less useful bamboo leaves.

Some people call them stupid beacuse of this (they are big dummies, just for different reasons) but all I see is a highly adapt animal fill a niche unique to its family and order, their stomachs are made special to eat lots of things very quickly so they can get enough energy, their round faces are full of muscles so that their jaws can crush the hard plant, they are comparable to the vegetarian gorilla in their adpations for a sedentary, low energy, lifestyle.

(Wild giant pandas will sometimes eat meat, fruits, honey, and more, but still favor bamboo)

They end up with a lot of cyanide, from their diet, the lethal dose of cyanide in most unadapt animals is 2 miligrams for every kilogram the animal weighs, adult panda bears weigh 100 to 115 kilograms on average, consuming an average of 54.8 to 66.1 miligrams of cyanide in a DAY, but 80% of it gets metabolized into the safer thiocyanate and then urinated out, the other 20% is dealt with through more minor pathways.

They also totally ARE bears! Here the phylogenetic tree!

(The phylogenetic tree)

They are part of Ursidae, the famioy of bears, but NOT Ursus, the genus containing polar bears, brown bears, Asian black bears, and American black bears, they're as much a bear as the Sun bear is!

But more than that they're living fossils! Having broken off from the common ancestor loooooong ago, they are equally distant from every extant bear due to that.

(Panda bears are solitary in the wild, and make a lot of use of olfactory comunication such as pheromones.)

Some have been angry (?) About the conservation efforts put into giant pandas, folks are starting to point out the obvious bias to cute (or something comparable to cute) and instead of trying to help not-normally-considered-cute animals, some get mad at the cute animals getting protection, no, don't do that, it's ridiculous, we should be doing more to help more animals, not doing less!

The giant panda was considered endangered by the IUCN and China, but has since been changed to vulnerable by both, we've made great strides in helping them, and in helping them we created nature reserves which also help to protect snow leopards, red pandas, golden-snub-nosed-monkeys and more! Plants too!

So don't be mad about what we haven't done, be proud of what we have! And make use of the present time and future to do what we've failed to, no matter how little the contribution of the individual may be, it means something, something glorious.

(More brown pandas! There's something so cool about animals with unusual-for-their-species color palates)

Ah, finally, a normal post.

[eukaryotesrool]

Raja Ofu

In science terms: Megachile pluto AKA Wallace's giant bee (apt name) the name used in the title translates to 'king of the bees' (also apt)

Yup, that's a bee, AND the largest extant bee, with females being the size of an adult human's thumb, and males an inch long, so, the distance between the tip of your thumb, and thumb's knuckle, big boys and girls.

It was dicovered initially by Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid 1800s, and was thought to be extinct until specimen were found in '81, but we didn't find any more of these guys, and they could have went extinct UNTIL 2018 when dead M. plutos were sold off for nearly ten K to collectors ON FUCKING EBAY, ah-hm, anyway, this caused a search for the mysterious critter, and in 2019...

They found it! It seems to be endemic to the Indonesian islands of Bacan, Halmahera, and Tidore, so, not a sprawling habitat, to say the least.

Recording of it, made by researchers

Okay, cool story bro, but what about the bee?

Speed: unknown,

weight: unknown

Sting: fatal to fully grown humans within 0.0003 seconds (when stung in the toe) however every 0.0000001 second feels like a million years of abject torture and agony so horrid you'll pray for dea-

Nah, I'm just kidding, well, only about that last part, we don't know its speed or weight, but we do know its safe, hell, its sting is less painful than that of honeybee, and no more dangerous, only done defensively on top of that.

those intimidating jaws? For the collection of plant resin which they use for nests, these guys can't even swarm you because they're solitary bees, yup, that's right SOLITARY bees (which isn't uncommon amongst bees, there are numerous solitary species) they live alone and have no queen, though, tend to make nests in close proximity to one another.

Speaking of nests, it makes its inside the nests of termites, using resin to section off a room, whether its relationship with the termites is obligatory (they need to do it survive) or not, or if its symbiotic, commensalistic, parasitic, or what have you, is unknown, but they sure do it.

They are also good pollinators, but don't make honey, which is true for large number of bee species (not every bee is a honey bee, pal)

To close off, they're considered threatened by the IUCN due to habitat loss and collectors going after them, on top of an already small range, things look pretty grim for this wonderful, flower loving fella,

so, please, tell tell a friend, or make a blog post, or anything about this neat lil guy, or about bees in general, they deserve more love than they get, and right now, a good amount of them need that love.

They just wanna smell the roses, like us.