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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 Thoracobombus (Bombus Subgenus Thoracobombus) » American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) Species Bombus pensylvanicus - American Bumble Bee
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 Thoracobombus)
Species pensylvanicus (American Bumble Bee)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Bombus pensylvanicus ( De Geer)
Orig. Comb: Apis pensylvanicus De Geer, 1773
Syn: Bombus pennsylvanicus - spelling
Size Large:
Queen 21 - 25 mm
Worker 14 - 18 mm
Male 16 - 22 mm
Identification In typical females the thoracic dorsum is yellow anteriorly and black posteriorly and the first three tergal segments are yellow contrasting with black distal segments. The malar space is long and the legs gangly. B. auricomus has a similar color pattern but often has conspicuous yellow hairs on the vertex (vs. black in pensylvanicus), a (variable) patch of yellow on the thoracic dorsum posteriorly (in pensylvanicus these hairs black or a more diffuse admixture of black and yellow), ocelli lower on the face (vs. high in pensylvanicus) and with more extensive black hairs on T1 so the abdomen appears somewhat banded (vs. dorsal surface of T1 consistently yellow in pensylvanicus). Males can be extremely similar to B. fervidus, as they often have extensive yellow on the thoracic dorsum posteriorly, but the interalar band is broader and more diffuse, the sides of the thorax are usually more extensively black posteriously, and the abdomen may be pale-tipped (variable). B.pensylvanicus averages larger but has a shorter malar space. The most extensively yellow B. pensylvanicus females can also be confused with B. fervidus but T4 is black in the former and yellow in the latter.
Range e. NA: NM-FL-NJ-SD / Ont. / Mex. (1)(BG data), see also: Map - Discover Life
Eastern North America, from Quebec to Florida west to Colorado, Texas and locally to New Mexico; the closely related sonorus, often classified as a subspecies, occurs in the southwestern United States west to coastal California.
Habitat Associated with large fields
Season Late emerging. Mostly: May-Oct (BG data)
Food Likes clover ( Trifolium) and sunflowers ( Helianthus). The Hosts section of its Discover Life species page lists known floral associations based on specimen records and images.
Remarks Has declined severely at the northern margin of its range, where now absent from or at best very rare at many historical localities, but still routinely found in its core range to the south as evidenced by the many Bugguide images. considered by Louisiana and Texas to be a "Species of Greatest Conservation Need" (SGCN) (2)(3)
Despite its name this species is not our most widespread species, as it is now rarely encountered in the northern portion of its historical range.
See Also Bombus auricomus, its Mullerian mimic.
Print References Warriner, M.D. 2011. Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of remnant grasslands in Arkansas. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 84(1): 43-50.
Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 21 July, 2006 - 12:38pm Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, cheins, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, John S. Ascher, hg, Nathaniel GreenLast updated 26 October, 2020 - 9:13am |
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