I was out looking for hoverflies - unsuccessfully, as it turned out - when this queen Bumblebee flew over my head and immediately started to rummage in the hedge base, looking for a nesting site:
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tZ447WZizBg/ScNehGelTUI/AAAAAAAAA4A/jpZjiJFlZaw/s280/cryptarum-queen-web.jpg)
I rattled off a few shots and a closer look reveals her to be a queen
Bombus cryptarum - a recent segregate from
Bombus lucorum. The notch in the yellow collar is the clue:
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tZ447WZizBg/ScNh1GkpF3I/AAAAAAAAA4I/IrWNLF3WBpc/s280/cryptarum-queen-notch.jpg)
I have been watching the parasitic bumblebee
Bombus bohemicus over the last couple of years. This is known to be a parasite of
Bombus lucorum, but I wonder if it's also a parasite of
Bombus cryptarum, which appears to be the dominant white-tailed species in this location.
Yikes! I'd never have spotted that - all white-bummed bumbles go down as B. lucorum in my book - do you think we'll get cryptarum here in Ryedale?
ReplyDeleteLots of bumbles about, including what I think are terrestris and one possible pratorum - and I saw a comma butterfly in the garden at lunchtime.
>I'd never have spotted that
ReplyDeleteYou would if you'd been looking for it ;)
>do you think we'll get cryptarum here in Ryedale?
It appears to be a northern species, with most records in the NBN being in Scotland, although the distribution map does show one dot in London.
http://data.nbn.org.uk/gridMap/gridMap.jsp?allDs=1&srchSpKey=NHMSYS0000875472
Keep taking shots of your "B. lucorum" and check the photos...you won't see it with the naked eye.
I saw one B. terrestris queen today.