Numbers
19 spp. in our area, 50 spp. total
(1)Range
holarctic group; ~30 spp. are in the Palaearctic; in our area, all 19 spp. occur in the US, 17 also in Canada, 2 range into Mexico (there are 2 more spp. in Mexico & C.America to Panama)
(1)Habitat
Mountain-meadow, forest, grassland, semi-desert, and tropical montane forest
(2)Life Cycle
Nests underground or on the surface
(2)Remarks
In many places in California, especially inland and to the south, B. caliginosus can be eliminated from consideration based on range as it has never been recorded there and should not occur (wrong habitat, climate, etc). Please consult Thorp et al. for details about their ranges.
To the north, especially at the coast, both species (B. caliginosus and B. vosnesenkii) could occur and ID is very difficult at best from images alone... difficult to separate even with specimens. (Comment by John Ascher).
See Also
Most orange-banded bumble bees belong to this subgenus (
B. (Cullumanobombus) rufocinctus is the exception)
