| SWARMS | Clouds of gnats or other insects; colonies of honeybees migrating to new hives with their queens; or, showers of meteors (6) |
| SWARM | Large group of bees which leave the hive with a queen to establish a new colony (5) |
| HOLLIS | "Christmas in ___" (Run-DMC song that celebrates their Queens, NY, neighbourhood) |
| NATTER | Word, perhaps onomatopoeic or imitative of gnats or flies buzzing, for a casual chat or idle gossip (6) |
| DRIFT | Group of swans on water; a swarm of honeybees in search of a new colony; a drove of cattle; or, a carpet of snowdrops (5) |
| CLOUD | Mass of floating water droplets studied in nephology; a swarm of gnats; or, a remote area in cyberspace for storing computer/smartphone data (5) |
| HIVE | Skep or box forming an apiary for a colony of honeybees of the same name; thus, a place of great industry or busyness; or, a teeming crowd (4) |
| COURTS | Collective entourage, households and retinues of kings or queens; or, the palaces of said sovereigns |
| THRONES | Elevated seats of kings, queens or popes; or, the third order of angels (7) |
| CATS | Stealthy clowder-, clutter- or pounce-forming mollies, queens or toms with retractable claws for mousing or playfully batting pompoms (4) |
| GANNET | The Skelligs are home to one of the world's largest colonies of which seabird? (6) |
| BEETLES | Much larger than other insects of their species, male elephant ___ have tusk-like horns which they use as weapons |
| APIARIES | Hives or colonies of bees kept fortheir honey (8) |
| FLYAGARIC | Red and white toadstool of fairy tale, folklore, hallucinogenic, magical, psychoactive, Super Mario or sticky tape graveyard of gnats fame (3,6) |
| ARMSTRONG | Mrs Gnat or the first man to 'Neil' on the moon - as in the cultivar of Acer rubrum! (9) |
| AMAZONANTS | Insects that steal and enslave the pupae of other insects |
| QUEENBEE | Mother of most of the other insects in a hive (5,3) |
| ARMYANTS | Migratory insects whose workers form "bivouacs" to protect their queen and larvae |
| TRIPOLI | In January 1935 the Italian colonies of Cyrenaica, ... and Fezzan were merged to form the nation kno |
| SOCIAL | Flamingos are very ___ animals and they live in colonies of thousands of birds |
