Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#1010102
 Bombus impatiens - Bombus impatiens - female

Bombus impatiens - Bombus impatiens - Female
Leisuretowne (Southampton), Burlington County, New Jersey, USA
October 14, 2014
I photographed this bumble bee in my yard and had trouble identifying it. I posted the three photos on Facebook, the site for BugGuide.
What follows is a response and suggestion from Doug Yanega. Per his request, you have my permission to use my three photos for the purpose he suggested.
Thank you very much for your time.

Doug Yanega’s Message: "This is an aberrant morph of Bombus impatiens. I was recently discussing this phenomenon with Sydney Cameron; a few species (including impatiens) have mutants that replace normally black hairs with brownish/reddish hairs.
 It would be good to get this into the BugGuide archives, as mutants like this are rarely documented, and people using field guides will almost inevitably get them wrong.
"Note also that the abdominal banding pattern - if you count them as red rather than brown - is T1 yellow, T 2&3 red, T4&5 black. There are no bumblebee species in the US with that color pattern, including rufocinctus. ONLY this one rare morph of impatiens has that combination."

Images of this individual: tag all
 Bombus impatiens - Bombus impatiens - female  Bombus impatiens - Bombus impatiens  Bombus impatiens - Bombus impatiens