Brown-banded carder bee

Bombus humilis

The brown-banded carder bee is a bumblebee found in most of Europe west of Russia, with the exception of Ireland and Iceland. It is also found in Turkey, on the Tibetan plateau, northern China, eastern and southern Mongolia, and parts of North Korea. In Britain, it is limited to the coast and chalkland areas of southern England.
Brown-banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis) B. humilis is a nationally rare Section 41 Conservation Priority species, its numbers having declined dramatically over the last 40 years due to the loss of its preferred habitat, large areas of grassland rich in flowers, especially vetches, clovers and trefoils for feeding. Much of the loss was through heavy grazing, “improvement” of pastures, encroachment of scrub and the use of herbicides. Humilis queens in particular, need tussocky grass containing the nests of mice in which they can found their colonies, raking in moss and fine grass leaves. There are however, tentative signs of recovery of the species. This individual was found on southern chalk downland, near where I live, It can also be found on some southern heathlands, brownfield sites and on coastal dunes. B. humilis can be differentiated from the Common Carder bee (B. pascuorum) in fresh specimens especially, by a deep chestnut hair pile on top of the thorax which often strongly contrasts with pale white clumps of hair on the sides. A small but distinguishable number of black hairs can often be seen at the base of each wing. Hairs which are never present on B. pascuorum. The brown abdominal band, very prominent on this individual and which gives the species its common name is highly variable in appearance and on it's own cannot be used to relaibly identify the species. In common with the similarly rare Shrill Carder bee (Bombus sylvarum) the queens emerge from hibernation later than other bee species in May, to build new nests. Workers fly from June to September and from July to September males can also be seen on the wing. New queens hibernate from October to the end of April. Bombus humilis,Brown-banded carder bee,Geotagged,Spring,United Kingdom

Appearance

The brown-banded carder bee is medium-sized with a relatively long tongue. The queen is 16–18 mm long, the worker 10–15 mm.

The thorax is usually yellow-orange on top, with beige flanks, but may be dark brown. Most of the abdomen is beige, too, although with a somewhat striped effect. Both queens and workers usually have a broad, dark brown band on the upper side of the abdomen, near the front, although it can be missing on some workers. A few black hairs - may only be one or two – are present on the thorax near the wing-bases. Males are similar to queens, but they lack stings and have longer antennae.

The brown-banded carder bee is similar in appearance to the moss carder bee. As they share similar habitats, care must be taken to distinguish between the two.
Brown-banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis) For most of the summer months the bee I see most frequently is the uncommonly common Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) a bee that can vary both in size and markings, particularly when worn. I have to keep reminding myself of the possibility that among them there might be flying the much rarer Bombus humilis. I thought i had spotted one just a week ago, but it was a worn individiual and the photographs were not conclusive. Such was my relief then when I instantly recognised this much fresher-looking bee as it foraged close by a few days later. Carder bees are generally more tolerant of human presence, so I had time to both photograph and film it, the result of which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJX8qdyPpw Bombus humilis,Brown-banded carder bee,Geotagged,Summer,United Kingdom

Habitat

The brown-banded carder bee favours vast grasslands. In Central Asia, it is an alpine species, living at altitudes of 3,000–3,900 m. Among the plants visited are "Trifolium pratense", "Centaurea" and "Vicia".

Predators

The brown-banded carder bee is threatened by habitat loss due to intensive farming. As Goulson, Hanley, Darvill, Ellis, and Knight have pointed out, a contributing factor in the northern part of its distribution is that "B. humilis", being near the edge of its latitudinal range, is not well adapted to local conditions, so is sensitive to habitat changes, especially loss of unimproved grassland meadows.

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Status: Least concern
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyApidae
GenusBombus
SpeciesB. humilis
Photographed in
United Kingdom