Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Bombus vandykei - Van Dyke's Bumble Bee

Thistle-loving bumble bee would also love having a name. - Bombus vandykei - male Bee 1 - Bombus vandykei Bumble Bee - Bombus vandykei Bumble Bee - Bombus vandykei Bombus vandykei? - Bombus vandykei - female Bombus vandykei? - Bombus vandykei - male Bee - genus Habropoda? - Bombus vandykei Bombus flavifrons - Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee? - Bombus vandykei - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees)
Family Apidae (Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees)
Subfamily Apinae (Honey, Bumble, Longhorn, Orchid, and Digger Bees)
Tribe Bombini (Bumble Bees)
Genus Bombus (Bumble Bees)
No Taxon (Subgenus Pyrobombus)
Species vandykei (Van Dyke's Bumble Bee)
Other Common Names
Has been called the "Van Dyke" Bumble Bee, but use of the possessive should be preferred when forming such a name (see AOU and BOU bird checklists).
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Bremus vandykei Frison, 1927; Pyrobombus (Pyrobombus) cascadensis Milliron, 1970
Explanation of Names
Author: Frison, 1927
Size
Small
Identification
Females resemble the sympatric and generally more numerous vosnesenskii, but in vandykei the yellow band is on T3 rather than T4. This character is often hard to observe in the field so this species is under-recorded in visual and photographic surveys. Males are extensively yellow, as in B. perplexus of northern and eastern North America, with a contrasting black tip to the metasoma and a variable amount of black hairs on the scutum. These have been confused with the much larger B. fervidus, but these are rarely sympatric and differ considerably in structure (note subgeneric characters). Coloration can vary from these general patterns: females in northern OR and WA may have yellow on the sides of T2 and T4; rarely females in CA are all-black and resemble small carpenter bees; rarely males are relatively dark with yellow only at the front of the thorax and on T2 and T3.
Range
Characteristic of relatively dry foothills of the Pacific Coastal States but also extends locally to higher mountains and lowlands.
Habitat
Relatively dry shrubby habitat seems to be preferred.
Food
The Hosts section of its Discover Life species page lists known associations based on specimen records and images.
Remarks
May be under-recorded in bumble bee surveys due to great similarity of females to the ubiquitous B. vosnesenskii and its preference for drier habitats than those preferred by many other bumble bee species (and by bumble bee specialists).
Print References
Thorp, R. W., D. S. Horning, Jr. and L. L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble Bees and Cuckoo Bumble Bees of California. Calif. Insect Survey, vol.23 (available as PDF ).
Williams, P., Thorp, R. W., Richardson, L. and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton University Press.
Internet References