Bumblebees
Bumblebees are a familiar sight in our gardens. There are 24 species of bumblebee found in the UK. The decline of British bumblebee populations was first noticed in 1959. All bumblebees form small colonies, but usually only the queens survive the winter. Because of this they do not need to store large quantities of honey in their hive.
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Hot bodied bumlebees 
Humble bumble bees Earth News
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Buzz of excitement over bumblebee
The great yellow bumblebee - one of Britain's rarest bees - has been found at its most southerly site in 30 years.
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Rare bumblebee coming back to UK
A bumblebee which is extinct in the UK is to be reintroduced from New Zealand under plans being announced.
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About
A bumblebee (or bumble bee) is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere.
Bumblebees are social insects that are characterized by black and yellow body hairs, often in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black. Another obvious (but not unique) characteristic is the soft nature of the hair (long, branched setae), called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel fuzzy. They are best distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy bees by the form of the female hind leg, which is modified to form a corbicula; a shiny concave surface that is bare, but surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen (in similar bees, the hind leg is completely hairy, and pollen grains are wedged into the hairs for transport).
Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young.
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Elsewhere on the web
- Atthis (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Bumblebee.org: common British bumblebees (bumblebee.org)
- Natural History Museum: bumblebees of the world (nhm.ac.uk)
- Natural England: buff tailed bumblebee (plantpress.com)
- UK Safari: bumblebee fact file (uksafari.com)
- Bumblebee (wikipedia.org)
Site links
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