northern amber bumble bee

Northern amber bumble bee is a large, frequently found, colonial, ground-nesting bumble bee.

The female (worker) bee is ½″ long. The thorax and abdomen are densely covered with short hairs. The thorax is bright yellow with a conspicuous black stripe between the bases of the wings and some darker, brownish-gray hairs on the sides. There are six abdominal segments. The first through fourth are yellow, the fifth and sixth are black.

The head is mostly black. There are two large compound eyes, one on each side of the head; and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangular pattern at the top of the head between the compound eyes. The middle ocellus is larger than the the two lateral ones. The top of the small (lateral) ocelli are on a virtual line (supraorbital line) with the top of the compound eyes. There are pale hairs around the base of the antennae and conspicuous bright yellow hairs on the top of the head and on the face. The hairs above the ocelli are usually entirely yellow. The tongue is short. The antennae have 12 segments. The fifth antenna segment is longer than the third or fourth. The wings are lightly brownish tinged with dull brick red to black veins.

The queen is similar but larger.

The male (drone) is similar but smaller and has longer hairs, 7 abdominal segments, and 13 antennae segments. The hairs at the base of the antennae are mostly black. Abdominal segments 5 and 6 are black at the base with considerable yellow hairs at the apex. Segment 7 is black with long black hairs.

Queen: 11 ⁄16″ to ⅞″

Male: 9 ⁄16″ to ⅝″

Worker: ½″

Golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) has black hairs on the top of the head and on the face. The hairs above the ocelli may have some short yellow hairs mixed with the longer black hairs. The sides of the thorax are covered with yellow hair.

Woodlands

May to September

Bumble bees will sting to protect themselves or their nest. The stinger is not barbed and the bee can sting multiple times.

Overwintering queens emerge from hibernation in May. After emerging, a queen will forage for pollen, and search for a new site. When one is found she will construct a hollow consisting of an egg chamber and a honeypot. She tends to her brood by sitting on them, fanning them with her wings, and feeding them. When adults emerge they feed themselves from the honeypot and take over care of the brood. Nests do not survive the winter. Males die soon after mating. Old queens and workers are killed by cold weather in the fall, while new mated queens hibernate beneath the soil litter.

Larvae are fed both nectar for carbohydrates and pollen for protein.

Adults feed mostly on nectar but also on some pollen.

Sources

4, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Frequently found

In the not-too-distant past, bumble bees were often placed in the in the subfamily Bombinae, and sometimes in the family Bombidae. Today, both of these terms are considered taxonomically invalid, though they can still be found in use on the Web.

Bumble Bee on Purple Prairie Clover....

Taken at Sandpiper Prairie SNA rural Norman Co. Mn. July 20 2018.

Funny little Bumble Bee...

Coming in for a landing on one of the flowering thistle at Frenchman’s Bluff SNA July 2024. This is a closer image of thistle out of the same group of thistle in the previous image sent of the several standing straight and fairly tall group. Funny little bumble bee.

There is a pretty good sized Bull Thistle patch near where I live that the bees and butterflies are working pretty hard.

Northern Amber Bumble Bee
Andree Reno Sanborn

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Dan W. Andree
July 2024

Location: Frenchman’s Bluff SNA

Coming in for a landing on one of the flowering thistle at Frenchman’s Bluff SNA July 2024. This is a closer image of thistle out of the same group of thistle in the previous image sent of the several standing straight and fairly tall group. Funny little bumble bee.

Location: Sandpiper Prairie SNA rural Norman Co. Mn.

Location: Pennington Co.

Location: Pennington Co.

There is a pretty good sized Bull Thistle patch near where I live that the bees and butterflies are working pretty hard.