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

Species Bombus kirbiellus - Golden-belted Bumble Bee

Bombus frigidus? - Bombus kirbiellus - female Bombus frigidus? - Bombus kirbiellus - female Bombus frigidus? - Bombus kirbiellus - female Bombus on Elk Thistle - Bombus kirbiellus Bombus for ID - Bombus kirbiellus More of the hairs - Bombus kirbiellus - female Bombus for ID - Bombus kirbiellus Bombus for ID - Bombus kirbiellus
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 Alpinobombus)
Species kirbiellus (Golden-belted Bumble Bee)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Recently reinstated as a valid species distinct from Bombus balteatus Dahlbom, 1832.

For synonymy see: Discover Life
Size
large
Identification
Female color pattern as in Bombus frigidus, with golden-tan hairs on the thorax and T1-T2, scutum with well-defined black interalar band, and tail tip extensively bright red-orange. Unlike B. frigidus hairs of the head including vertex are black. In both sexes the very long face, and malar space, and long, shaggy coat are distinctive. In the high arctic must be carefully separated from other members of this subgenus.
Range
High latitudes and altitudes. In the lower 48 states best known from the high Rockies, such as Rocky Mountain NP of Colorado, but also occurs very locally in the high Sierra of California (e.g., at and above Sonora Pass).
Habitat
Arctic and alpine tundra
Food
A long-tongued species that can visit specialized arctic and alpine flowers with long corolla tubes. The Hosts section of its Discover Life species page lists known associations based on specimen records and images.
Internet References