Guide to Bumble Bees of the Western United States
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Bumble Bees of the Western United States By Jonathan Koch James Strange A product of the U.S. Forest Service and the Pollinator Partnership Paul Williams with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Executive Editor Larry Stritch, Ph.D., USDA Forest Service Cover: Bombus huntii foraging. Photo Leah Lewis Executive and Managing Editor Laurie Davies Adams, The Pollinator Partnership Graphic Design and Art Direction Marguerite Meyer Administration Jennifer Tsang, The Pollinator Partnership IT Production Support Elizabeth Sellers, USGS Alphabetical Quick Reference to Species B. appositus .............110 B. frigidus ..................46 B. rufocinctus ............86 B. balteatus ................22 B. griseocollis ............90 B. sitkensis ................38 B. bifarius ..................78 B. huntii ....................66 B. suckleyi ...............134 B. californicus ..........114 B. insularis ...............126 B. sylvicola .................70 B. caliginosus .............26 B. melanopygus .........62 B. ternarius ................54 B. centralis ................34 B. mixtus ...................58 B. terricola ...............106 B. crotchii ..................82 B. morrisoni ...............94 B. vagans ...................50 B. fernaldae .............130 B. nevadensis .............18 B. vandykei ................30 B. fervidus................118 B. occidentalis .........102 B. vosnesenskii ..........74 B. flavifrons ...............42 B. pensylvanicus subsp. sonorus ....122 B. franklini .................98 2 Bumble Bees of the Western United States Guide to Bumble Bees of the Alphabetical Quick Reference to Species Table of Contents Western 3 Table of Contents United States B. rufocinctus ............86 4 Foreword B. sitkensis ................38 5 About the Authors 6 Introduction B. suckleyi ...............134 10–12 Bee Diagrams B. sylvicola .................70 13–15 Methodology B. ternarius ................54 16–17 Measuring Face Characteristics and Color 18 Species Guides (color coded) B. terricola ...............106 18–81 Long- or square-cheeked bees with a rounded angle on the mid leg B. vagans ...................50 82–109 Short-cheeked bees with a rounded angle on the mid leg B. vandykei ................30 110–125 Long-cheeked bees with a sharp angle on the mid leg B. vosnesenskii ..........74 126–137 Bees with hind leg outer tibial surface convex and uniformly hairy (cuckoo bumble bees) 138 Identification Key 142 Acknowledgements 143 Web and Other Resources Bumble Bees of the Western United States 3 Foreword Bumble bees are among the most important and conspicuous identify different species will help to develop appreciation for of native pollinators, both for wildflowers and agriculture, them. yet they are not well known by non-scientists. This is in The growing audience of people who are interested in natural part because there have not been accessible field guides history will also find this guide a valuable resource. The ability for identifying them. This situation was recently remedied to identify bumble bees is a challenging skill to develop, but the for the eastern U.S., with the publication of Bumble Bees information and photographs in the guide will help facilitate this of the Eastern United States. Now residents of the western goal. People who develop this skill will be valuable collaborators U.S. have access to a similarly valuable resource, with the for scientists seeking to refine our knowledge about the appearance of this new guide to Bumble Bees of the Western distribution and abundance of bumble bees. United States. Unfortunately several bumble bee species are also the Bumble bees have been the subject of many important subject of concern by conservation biologists and growers. ecological studies in the western U.S., including research on In California and Oregon, Bombus franklini may be on the foraging behavior, floral resource competition, and pollination. brink of extinction, while Bombus occidentalis is experiencing They have also provided some of the first information about dramatic declines in abundance and range. This is most how altitudinal distributions of animals are changing due to likely due to the introduction of some European parasites and the changing climate (moving up hundreds of meters in the diseases during the international commercial trade in bumble Colorado Rocky Mountains since the 1970s). This guide will bees for their use in greenhouse pollination of plants such as be a valuable resource for scientists conducting these kinds of tomatoes. This guide will hopefully help both non-scientists research involving bumble bees. and scientists track the distribution and abundance of these A growing audience for information about bumble bees are important pollinators, providing valuable information about people interested in their value as pollinators of commercial their conservation status. crops of fruits and vegetables, as well as backyard gardens. David Inouye, Ph.D. The information about the tongue length of each species may help growers figure out what the most economically valuable Co-author of Techniques for Pollination Biologists, species are for their particular crops, and the ability to and a long-time bumble bee researcher 4 Bumble Bees of the Western United States About the Authors Jonathan B. Koch M.S. is a graduate James P. Strange Ph.D. is a Research En- Paul Williams Ph.D. studied the distribu- student at Utah State University in Logan, tomologist with the USDA-ARS Pollinating tion and decline of British bumble bees Utah where he studies bumble bee decline Insect Research Unit in Logan, Utah where for a Ph.D. at Cambridge University in and conservation biology. He applied he conducts research on various aspects 1985. Since then he has continued to species distribution modeling techniques of bumble bee biology. He focuses on work on this as a Research Entomologist and geographic information systems (GIS) the conservation of declining bumble bee at the Natural History Museum, London, to specimen data from natural history species as well as the domestication and United Kingdom, but is looking increas- collections during his Master’s program to breeding of bumble bees for commercial ingly at bumble bee ecology and system- estimate distributional changes of west- pollination. His current research interests atics worldwide, with field sites in North ern bumble bees. His extensive map- include bumble bee hibernation and the America, the Himalaya, and China. Larger ping experience is reflected in this guide. genetic diversity of populations in frag- taxonomic publications have included Jonathan is now working towards his Ph.D. mented habitats. faunal revisions of the bumble bees of studying the evolution and ecology of the Email: [email protected] Kashmir and recently on the bumble bumble bees of the intermountain west. Website: http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/ bees of the Sichuan, a world checklist of Email: [email protected] people/people.htm?personid=40124 bumble bee species, and a series of papers on bumble bee phylogeny and subgenera. Overview: www.nhm.ac.uk/bombus Publications on bumble bees: www.nhm. Authors are listed in alphabetical order. Each contributed equally. ac.uk/bombus/publications.html Bumble Bees of the Western United States 5 Introduction Bumble Bees of the Western United States There are currently about 250 described bumble bee species What are Bumble Bees? worldwide. There is considerable morphological, physiologi- cal, and behavioral diversification in the genus, and currently There are over 3,000 described bee species in the United 15 subgenera are recognized. Of importance for identification, States, and all but a handful are native to North America. Of the color pattern of their pubescence (i.e. hair) is perhaps the these, about 40 species belong to the genus Bombus, these most easily recognized and widely used trait. However, this are the bumble bees. Bumble bees are corbiculate (they have trait can be confusing, especially for the beginner, as it can pollen baskets on their hind legs) social bees that live and work vary greatly within a species, so other traits must be considered in colonies headed by a single queen who is the mother of all as well. Some bumble bee species have evolved longer faces the other nest residents. Cuckoo bumble bees in the subgenus and tongues to extract nectar from flowers with long corollas; Psithyrus are parasites that invade the nests of other bumble whereas others have evolved shorter faces and tongues to ex- bee species, kill the resident queen, and use the existing worker tract nectar from flowers with short corollas. This morphological force to rear their young. Relative to other bees, bumble bees character provides a primary separation of several groups and is have large bodies, although body size in some species can vary relatively easy to diagnose with a hand lens and a little practice. greatly from workers to queens. They are generally furrier than Other informative morphological characters include the location most other bees and have other physiological adaptations that of the ocelli (simple eye) relative to the supraorbital line (page allow for flight in cold and cloudy conditions when other bees 12), as well as the presence of a spine on the mesobasitarsus. are inactive. Thus, the best approach in identifying a bumble bee to species is to consider multiple traits, as color mimicry is common and Classification: Animalia > Arthropoda > Insecta > Hymenop- some species can look nearly identical,