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:
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.
2 comments:
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?
Lots 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
You 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.
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