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

Genus Bombus - Bumble Bees

What kind of bumble bee is this - Bombus - male Common Eastern Bumble Bee - Bombus impatiens - male Bombus sp - Bombus vagans - female Small Bombus? - Bombus vosnesenskii Bombus? - Bombus griseocollis Bombus  - Bombus perplexus Bee - Bombus bimaculatus - male Bombus  (Pyrobombus) melanopygus ? - Bombus melanopygus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Anthophila (Apoidea) - Bees)
Family Apidae (Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees)
Subfamily Apinae (Honey, Bumble, and Digger Bees)
Tribe Bombini (Bumble Bees)
Genus Bombus (Bumble Bees)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
includes Psithyrus, which is now considered a subgenus of Bombus - see links below
Numbers
42 species in the western Nearctic
24 species in the eastern Nearctic
17 species in the southern Nearctic
Nearctica lists 41 species plus 6 listed as Psithyrus
Identification
Overview of Species of Bombus

Species auricomus - Black and Gold Bumble Bee
     
Species nevadensis - Bombus nevadensis
     
Species affinis - Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
     
Species lucorum - Bombus lucorum

Species terricola - Yellowbanded Bumble Bee
       

Species crotchii - Bombus crotchii

Species fraternus - Southern Plains Bumble Bee
       
Species griseocollis - Brownbelted Bumble Bee
     
Species rufocinctus - Redbelted Bumble Bee
     

Species citrinus - Lemon Cuckoo Bumble Bee
     
Species fernaldae - Fernald Cuckoo Bumble Bee
       
Species insularis - Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee
       
Species suckleyi - Suckleyi Bumblebee


     
Species bimaculatus - Twospotted Bumble Bee
     
       
Species huntii - Bombus huntii
     
Species impatiens - Common Eastern Bumble Bee
     
Species melanopygus - Bombus melanopygus
     
Species mixtus - Bombus mixtus
♀♂
Species perplexus - Confusing Bumble Bee
     
Species sitkensis - Bombus sitkensis

Species ternarius - Tricolored Bumble Bee
     
Species vagans - Half-black Bumble Bee

Species vandykei - Bombus vandykei

Species vosnesenskii - Yellow-faced Bumble Bee


Species appositus - Bombus appositus

Species borealis - Boreal Bumble Bee
       

Species californicus - Bombus californicus

Species fervidus - Golden Northern Bumble Bee
     
Species pensylvanicus - American Bumble Bee
     
Species sonorus - Bombus sonorus
     
Remarks
The following species used to belong to the genus Psithyrus, now considered a subgenus:
B. ashtoni Cresson 1864
B. citrinus Smith 1854
B. fernaldae Franklin 1911
B. insularis Smith 1861
B. suckleyi Greene 1860
B. variabilis Cresson 1872
See Also
bee-mimicking robber flies such as Laphria, Mallophora
Print References
Michener, Charles D. 2007. (2nd ed.) The Bees of the World. 1,016 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press. [advertised here]
Internet References
Bombus Bumblebees of the World - British Museum of Natural History
The following range maps and species lists are all from the British Museum of Natural History website (the 2-letter abbreviations indicate subgenus):
common name references; PDF doc for 20 species of Bombus (Committee on Common Names of Insects, Entomological Society of America)
discussion on subgenus Psithyrus plus list and distribution of world species (Natural History Museum, UK)
world bee genera plus synonyms and subgenera; list based on Michener, 2000 (Doug Yanega, U. of California at Riverside)
Xerces.org Basic information and some illustrations for identification.
University of California, Berkeley. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California.