Bombus central*is or hun*tii? - Bombus huntii

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Honey, Bumble, Longhorn, Orchid, and Digger Bees (Apinae) » Bumble Bees (Bombini) » Bumble Bees (Bombus) » Subgenus Pyrobombus (Bombus Subgenus Pyrobombus) » Hunt's Bumble Bee (Bombus huntii)

Photo#242817

Copyright © 2008 Aaron Schusteff

Bombus central*is or hun*tii? - Bombus huntii -

At ~12,000' elevation, west of White Mountain Rd, near pass above Patriarch Grove, Inyo County, California, USA
July 24, 2008

Can anyone help nail down the ID of this bumblebee?

It looks similar to Bombus huntii posts on BugGuide. However, using the color pattern diagrams in the 1983 monograph by Robbin Thorp, et al (1), it appears to be a better match with Bombus centralis. (That monograph can be downloaded for free as a PDF here.) The color pattern diagrams in Thorp(1) which fit best are #118 on page 73 (for male B. centralis) and #147 on page 76 (for female B. huntii). Both species are listed in Thorp(1) as having been collected in the vicinity (at the UC Crooked Creek Research Station).

It's the same bumblebee in all four images of the collage. It was foraging on flower heads of Hymenoxys cooperi var. canescens (Asteraceae) in an alpine fell-field on a mountainside above timberline. [Timberline at this locale consists of one of the highest groves of Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva), which lies a few hundred feet below.]

I wish the quality of the images were better...but it may be a new species for BugGuide.

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Contributed by Aaron Schusteff on 30 November, 2008 - 11:51pm
Last updated 21 September, 2015 - 5:45pm

Moved

Moved from Bumble Bees.

… John S. Ascher, 11 November, 2009 - 5:38pm

huntii

"it appears to be a better match with Bombus centralis"

no, in centralis T2 is all yellow

… John S. Ascher, 11 November, 2009 - 5:37pm

Agreed...female B. huntii

Thanks, John, for clearing up my confusion! I now see that Figure 147 on page 76 of Thorp(1) is definitely the right fit (e.g. female B. huntii).

I think I misinterpreted the upper left image in my collage as showing T1 and T2 yellow. (There's a faint "black band" there that's apparently just a "hair-part" and not an indication of a suture between tergites I and II.) Based on my misinterpretation, none of the diagrams seemed a clear match, though huntii and centralis appeared closest. In hindsight, short of correctly "reading" the tergites, perhaps I should have given more weight to the fact that centralis also lacks any yellow after the red tergites according to Figure 143 (female) and Figure 118 (male) of Thorp(1).

… Aaron Schusteff, 11 November, 2009 - 9:14pm

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