golden northern bumble bee

VU - Vulnerable

N4? - Apparently Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Species in Greatest Conservation Need

Golden northern bumble bee is a small, common, widespread, later season, bumble bee. It occurs across the United States and southern Canada, and in Mexico. In the U.S. it is mostly absent from the southeast and south-central states, but it occurs along the Appalachian Mountains as far south as northern Georgia. It is common but its numbers are declining. The range of this species has remained consistent, but the numbers have declined consistently since 1900. The cause of the decline is uncertain but likely includes habitat loss, pesticide use on agricultural fields, wildfire suppression, and prescribed burns in areas where few individuals exist.

Golden northern bumble bees are found from mid-May through late September in grasslands, savannas, forest openings, agricultural areas, suburban developments, and roadsides. They nest mostly on the ground or above the surface in tall grass, in haystacks, or in abandoned mouse nests. Sometimes they nest below ground.

The female (worker) bee is 7⁄16″ (10.5 to 11.0 mm) in length. The width of the abdomen is ⅛″ to ¼″ (4.0 to 6.5 mm). The body is mostly covered with long black and lemon-yellow hair.

The hair on the head is entirely black, including a dense band of hairs on top of the head (vertex) at the rear. The back of the head and the face are black. The plate on the face (clypeus) is closely pitted (punctate) above and below with a broad, shiny, mostly unpitted area in the middle. The antennae have 12 segments consisting of a long basal segment (scape), a small connecting segment (pedicel), and a whip-like section (flagellum) with ten segments (flagellomeres). The scape is long, slightly more than half as long as all of the flagellomeres together. The first flagellomere is slightly shorter than the second and third combined. The tongue is long.

The upper side of the thorax is densely covered with long, mostly yellow hair. The hair near the flap-like covering of the wing bases (tegulae) is black, with few if any yellow hairs. Between the wings there is a band of black hair that usually extends toward the rear in a shallow V shape. The sides of the thorax are covered in yellow hair.

The abdomen has six segments and is densely covered with relatively long hair. The hair on the first through fourth segments is entirely yellow, on the fifth and sixth segments entirely black.

The wings are deeply tinted smoky brown. The veins are brown to brownish-black.

The legs are black and are covered with black hair.

The queen is similar but larger, ¾″ to 13⁄16″ (19 to 21 mm) in length. The clypeus is doubly punctate, coarsely and deeply punctured with minute punctures in the spaces between. The unpitted area in the middle is narrower.

The male (drone) is somewhat larger, 7⁄16″ to ¾″ (11 to 20 mm) in length. The middle area of the clypeus is finely and closely punctate. The antennae have 13 segments. The abdomen has 7 segments. The wings are lightly tinted with brick red to brownish-black veins.

Male: 7⁄16″ to ¾″ (11 to 20 mm)

Worker: 7⁄16″ (10.5 to 11 mm)

Queen: ¾″ to 13⁄16″ (19 to 21 mm)

Grasslands, savannas, forest openings, agricultural areas, suburban developments, and roadsides.

Mid-May through late September

Nests are made on or above the ground in tall grass, haystacks, or abandoned mouse nests, and sometimes below ground.

Sources

4, 7, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Common

Some authors separate bumble bees and orchid bees into the subfamily Bombinae. NCBI follows this classification. Most authors follow Michener (2007) and include those groups in the subfamily Apinae with the honey bees.

Bombus fervidus golden northern bumblebee

One of my favorite bumblebees, and I've been actively looking for them most every day in spring thru fall for the last 7 years.

I don't see a lot of them, and when I do, my pictures are often not the best.

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI

One of my favorite bumblebees, and I've been actively looking for them most every day in spring thru fall for the last 7 years. I don't see a lot of them, and when I do, my pictures are often not the best.