northern amber bumble bee

LC - Least Concern

N4N5 - Apparently Secure to Secure

not listed

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″

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

24, 27, 29, 30.

Frequently found

The abundance of northern amber bumble bee has decreased 7.11% across North America when comparing historical records (1802 to 2001) to current records (2002 to 2012). This is not considered a serious decline and supports the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) ranking of Least Concern. In Minnesota, the story is a little different. The extent of occurrence (EOO) of this species in Minnesota has contracted significantly. The historical EOO shows the range to include all but the far southwestern corner of the state. The current EOO shows no occurrences south of a line from the north Metro area in the east to Breckenridge on the western border.

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.

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.