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) » Crotch's Bumble Bee (Bombus crotchii)

Species Bombus crotchii - Crotch's Bumble Bee

Bombus on Salt Marsh Bird's Beak - Bombus crotchii - female

Bombus melanopygus? (crotchii?) - Bombus crotchii

Bombus crotchii? - Bombus crotchii - male

Crotch's Bumble Bee - Bombus crotchii - male

Bombus sp. Simi Valley, CA - Bombus crotchii

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 crotchii (Crotch's Bumble Bee)

Other Common Names

Crotch (sic) Bumble Bee

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Bombus nigrocinctus Provancher, 1888; Bombus crotchii var nigricaudus Frison, 1927

Explanation of Names

Author: Cresson, 1878

Identification

Females are identified by contrasting yellow band on T2 (vs. more apical segments in certain other sympatric species) and orange-red tail tip (vs. white in occidentalis). Males have large eyes, a black interalar band, and basal terga extensively yellow contrasting with an orange-red tail.

Range

Southwestern United States, where best known from cismontane California

Habitat

Occurs at relatively warm and dry sites, including the inner Coast Range of California and even the margins of the Mojave Desert

Food

The Hosts section of its Discover Life species page lists known associations based on specimen records and images.

Remarks

**Listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species**

Likely undersampled in Bombus-specific studies as these focus on colder and more mesic habitats where bumble bees are more diverse

Internet References

Discover Life

Natural History Museum

Contributed by Chuck Entz on 25 September, 2006 - 8:21pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Hartmut Wisch, John S. Ascher, Nathaniel Green
Last updated 26 October, 2020 - 8:58am

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