VIA WIRED
It's not uncommon for people to fill their homes with flowers to liven up the place, but how about having your house made from them?Researchers working in Turkey recently discovered a species of bee that builds its nest from flower petals, creating multicoloured homes for their larvae to grow in.
The rare Osmia avoseta bee is one of an estimated 20,000 types of bee, but defies the typical bee image of living in vast numbers in communal hives by fending for themselves and creating single nests for each of their offspring.
Around 75 percent of the world's bee species are solitary. However, the Osmia avoseta is unusual as it creates a triple layered nest to regulate the humidity of its larvae.
The female bees spend up to two days creating the intricate nests by chewing off individual petals and carrying them back to a small burrow in the ground that will help form the shape of the nest. She uses nectar to glue the petals together, and lines the cocoon with mud before adding a final internal layer of petals to protect just one larvae.
A small amount of nutrient -- consisting of nectar and pollen -- is then added to the tiny nest before she lays her egg and seals the nest by folding in the petals and applying more mud. Each bee will build as many as ten nests -- often in close proximity to each other -- measuring less than 1.5 centimetres in length.
It is believed the eggs hatch within three to four days, but it is not know if they remain as larvae throughout the winter before emerging from their petal palace in the spring.
A team from the American Museum of Natural History and another team working in the Fars Province of Iran -- who made the same discovery on the same day -- have published the discovery of the Osmia avoseta bee in the American Museum Novitates.
