Images

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected at Morris Arboretum by Stephanie Wilson

There are a lot of bumble bee species out there, about 50 species or so north of Mexico. Some arguments regarding species boundaries, but, bottomline is there are more than most people would suppose. Here is Bombus bifarius. Another common western bee, one a bit more likely to nest above ground than some of the others....sometimes even showing up in bird houses.

Bee of Yosemite. This is Bombus bifarius, a male (see all the yellow on the face shot? that is a good indication of a male bumble bee....not all species show this pattern, but it is a general trend. Females tend to have a nearly all black face with perhaps a topknot of yellow hairs, but I digress).

A common Western bumblebee. This one comes via Glacier National Park as part of a survey of vulnerable areas in National Parks.

There are a lot of bumble bee species out there, about 50 species or so north of Mexico. Some arguments regarding species boundaries, but, bottomline is there are more than most people would suppose. Here is Bombus bifarius. Another common western bee, one a bit more likely to nest above ground than some of the others....sometimes even showing up in bird houses.

Bee of Yosemite. This is Bombus bifarius, a male (see all the yellow on the face shot? that is a good indication of a male bumble bee....not all species show this pattern, but it is a general trend. Females tend to have a nearly all black face with perhaps a topknot of yellow hairs, but I digress).

Bombus bifarius is one of the common species of western bumble bees, surprisingly, there are nearly 50 different species found north of Mexico and many are also tricky to identify and can only be accomplished under a microscope. So not like butterflies.

There are a lot of bumble bee species out there, about 50 species or so north of Mexico. Some arguments regarding species boundaries, but, bottomline is there are more than most people would suppose. Here is Bombus bifarius. Another common western bee, one a bit more likely to nest above ground than some of the others....sometimes even showing up in bird houses.

Bee of Yosemite. This is Bombus bifarius, a male (see all the yellow on the face shot? that is a good indication of a male bumble bee....not all species show this pattern, but it is a general trend. Females tend to have a nearly all black face with perhaps a topknot of yellow hairs, but I digress).

The head of Bombus bimaculatus, our earliest spring bumblebee, unlike some of the other species it is still very common in most parts of the eastern United States and by late June/July you can see that the nests are producing males and beginning to wind down the season for the species. This one was collected by Laura Russo somewhere near State College Pennsylvania.

A common spring bumble bee, Bombus bimaculatus, one of the species of bumble bees that have not seemed to have declined since the introduction of Nosema bombi a parasite from Europe. This one was collected by Laura Russo near State College Pennsyvania.

Bombus bimaculatus, female, Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Male Bombus bimaculatus from Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, captured in the new native plant circle

A western bumble bee. Bombus californicus is a reasonably uncommon dark-winged Bumble bee that ranges from the Rockies to the West and whose populations may have been knocked back by the same pathogen suite as the gone or nearly gone species such as B. affinis and B. franklini.

A western bumble bee. Bombus californicus is a reasonably uncommon dark-winged Bumble bee that ranges from the Rockies to the West and whose populations may have been knocked back by the same pathogen suite as the gone or nearly gone species such as B. affinis and B. franklini.

Not all bumblebees gather pollen. Some, like this Bombus citrinus, take over the nests of other bumblebee species and use their workers to provision the nests of their young.

Not all bumblebees gather pollen. Some, like this Bombus citrinus, take over the nests of other bumblebee species and use their workers to provision the nests of their young.

Not all bumblebees gather pollen. Some, like this Bombus citrinus, take over the nests of other bumblebee species and use their workers to provision the nests of their young.

Power...This is Bombus citrinus, a female just emerged from where she hibernated overwinter and looking for the new nests of a queen bumblebee, note the sting on the prominent tail end of this bee, she uses that to eliminate or paralyze the female of another bumblebee, taking over the nest and essentially enslaving the daughters of the queen to now raise her young.

Power...This is Bombus citrinus, a female just emerged from where she hibernated overwinter and looking for the new nests of a queen bumblebee, note the sting on the prominent tail end of this bee, she uses that to eliminate or paralyze the female of another bumblebee, taking over the nest and essentially enslaving the daughters of the queen to now raise her young.

The odd case of Bombus citrinus. This species is a nest parasite on other Bumble Bees and as is the case in many, if perhaps not all, the parasitic species it has an unusually long top of the head...in other words the distance from the ocelli to the back of the head is longer than in other species.