| Brown-banded carder bee | |
|---|---|
| Brown-banded carder bee on wineberry | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Subfamily: | Apinae |
| Genus: | Bombus |
| Species: | B. humilis |
| Binomial name | |
| Bombus humilis Illiger, 1806 |
|
The brown-banded carder bee, Bombus humilis, is a bumblebee found in most of Europe west of Russia, with the exception of Ireland and Iceland. It is also found in Turkey,[1] on the Tibetan plateau and in northern China.[2]
In Britain it is limited to the coast and chalkland areas of southern England.[3]
Contents |
A medium-sized bumblebee with a relatively long glossa (tongue).[4] The queen is 16–18 millimetres (0.6–0.7 in) long, the worker 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in).[5]
The thorax is yellow orange on top, with beige flanks. So is most of the abdomen, although with a somewhat striped effect. It usually has a broad, dark brown band on the upper side of the abdomen, near the front, although it can be missing on some workers.[6]
Its flight period lasts from about May to September. The queen emerges from hibernation in the spring and makes a nest on the surface of the ground, preferable among grass tufts.[5] The size of the nest is quite small, usually less than 100 inhabitants.[7]
The brown-banded carder bee favours vast grasslands.[7] In Central Asia it is an alpine species, living at altitudes of 3,000–3,900 metres (9,800–12,800 ft).[2] Among the plants visited are Trifolium pratense (red clover), Centaurea (knapweed) and Vicia (vetches).[7]
The brown-banded carder bee is threatened by habitat loss due to intensive farming.[5] As Goulson, Hanley, Darvill, Ellis, and Knight have pointed out, a contributing factor in the northern part of its distribution (including Britain) is that B. humilis, being near the edge of its latitudinal range, is not well adapted to local conditions and therefore sensitive to habitat changes, especially loss of unimproved grassland meadows.[4]