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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 Cullumanobombus (Bombus Subgenus Cullumanobombus) » Southern Plains Bumble Bee (Bombus fraternus)

Species Bombus fraternus - Southern Plains Bumble Bee

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · Internet References
Bumblebee, or not? - Bombus fraternus Southern Plains Bumble Bee - Bombus fraternus Southern Plains Bumble Bee - Bombus fraternus - female Southern plains bumblebee (Bombus fraternus) - Bombus fraternus - female Bumble Bee - Bombus fraternus Bombus Fraternus ?? - Bombus fraternus Bumble Bee in Prairie Uplands - Bombus fraternus Large Bumble Bee with Dense Yellow Hair on Gaillardia Pulchella - Bombus fraternus
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 Cullumanobombus)
Species fraternus (Southern Plains Bumble Bee)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Bombus fraternus (Smith)
Orig. Comb: Apathus fraternus Smith 1854
Syn: Bombus scutellaris
Size
queen: body length 21-27 mm
male: 19-25 mm
worker: 13-18 mm
Identification
Black interalar band broad and well defined. T3 black (as opposed to yellow in auricomus and sonorus). T2 entirely yellow-tan (lacking the black apicolateral corners typical of griseocollis).
see detailed description of queen and male at discoverlife.org
Range
Historic records come from e US to NM (MI;IL;IN;OH;KY;NJ;MD;DE;VA;DC;TN;NC;SC;MS;AL;GA;FL;IA;MO;AR;LA;SD;NE;KS;OK;TX;CO;NM) and Mexico: Chihuahua.
Map - Discover Life
Habitat
Typically prairies and similar open sites
Season
March to November
Food
The Hosts section of its Discover Life species page lists known associations based on specimen records and images.
Remarks
Has disappeared from the northern margins of its range, with few or no records from the northernmost states where recorded historically, but still regularly encountered in its core range on the southern Great Plains, and still found in the Southeastern United States.
Internet References
24 pinned adult images plus detailed description of queen and male, distribution, seasonality, flower records (discoverlife.org)
common name reference; PDF doc (Committee on Common Names of Insects, Entomological Society of America)
links to photos of male genitalia (Natural History Museum, UK)
Discover Life
IUCN Red list
Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 28 July, 2006 - 6:31am
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, John S. Ascher, hg
Last updated 29 July, 2017 - 8:19am

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