Sitka bumblebee

Sitka bumblebee
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Subgenus: Pyrobombus
Species: B. sitkensis
Binomial name
Bombus sitkensis
Nylander, 1848[1]

The Sitka bumblebee, Bombus sitkensis, is a species of bumblebee, common in western North America from Alaska to California.

Description

The Sitka bumblebee has an oblong head with a medium-length proboscis. The females (queens and workers) have black and yellow hairs intermixed on the face and forward part of the thorax and a black patch in the middle of the thorax, while their sides are yellowish.[2] Terga (abdominal segments) 1 and 2 are yellow, and 3 and 4 black, the latter with a yellow posterior rim. The two last terga are brownish-red.[3] The male has the face and forward parts of the thorax yellow, and only the posterior parts are darker (black and yellow intermixed). On the abdomen terga 1 and 2 are yellow,[2] and terga 3 to 5 yellow on the anterior part, black on the posteror. The tail (terga 6 to 7) is brownish-red.[3]

Distribution

The species is a common bumblebee found in the western North America from Alaska and British Columbia, and Washington, to northern Idaho, western Montana, and the coastal parts of California.[2][4] In 2013, a six-week survey of bumble bees was conducted in the Mount Hood National Forest. Rich Hatfield, the Xerces Society biologist noted a ten-year trend towards decreased relative abundance of populations, as compared with long-term databases running back to the 1800s.[5] The website BumbleBeeWatch has published a distribution map, developed from Wikipedia base maps and available distribution data.[6] In Californian urban parks, the Sitka bumblebee has experienced a mild population decline, due to being out-competed by another bee species, Bombus vosnesenskii. The Bombus vosnesenskii is also a subterranean nester, and emerges early in the season, to find the best nesting locations. [7]

Ecology

The Sitka bumblebee forages on flowering plants from families as Ericaceae and Asteraceae; the females also fly to Saxifragaceae and Rhamnaceae. The flight period for the queen is very long, from the end of January to the beginning of December. The first workers emerge in early March, while males appear in early April. Both the latter castes have disappeared by the end of September.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bombus sitkensis Nylander, 1848". Discover Life (American Museum of Natural History). Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Jonathan Koch, James Strange & Paul Williams (2012). "Bumble Bees of the Western United States" (PDF, 7.56 MB). The Xerces Society. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 Quinn S. McFrederick. "Guide to the Bombus of San Francisco" (PDF). San Francisco State University. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  4. 1 2 Robbin W. Thorp; Donald S. Horning, Jr. and Lorry L. Dunning (February 1983). "Bumble Bees and Cuckoo Bumble Bees of California" (PDF (6,94 MB)). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey (University of California Press) 23: 42–43. ISBN 0520096452. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  5. ↑ Toni, Tabora-Roberts. "Efforts To Help Bumblebees 19 September 2003". OPB Earthfix. Oregon Public Broadcast. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Sitka bumble bee". BumbleBeeWatch. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  7. ↑ McFrederick, Quinn S.; LeBuhn, Gretchen (2006-05-01). "Are urban parks refuges for bumble bees Bombus spp. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)?". Biological Conservation 129 (3): 372–382. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.11.004.
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