Red-tailed Bumble Bee

Appearance

The red-tailed bumblebee is typically distinguished by its black body with red markings around the abdomen. Worker females and the queen look similar, except the queen is much larger than the worker females. Males typically have both the red and black coloration along with a yellow band around the abdomen and yellow markings on the face.

Further, "B. lapidarius" tend to have a medium-sized proboscis, which is significant in that it allows the species to be a good pollinator. These bees do not typically form extensive or complex colonies. Nests usually only contain a few hundred bees, at most. An average colony consists of about 100 to 200 worker bees.

Distribution

"Bombus lapidarius" is often found throughout Europe, including Britain and Ireland as well as parts of Greece, Germany, Sweden and Finland. This species typically has a fairly wide distribution. As described in the foraging patterns section, they can fly over 1500 meters to better forage for food. They typically are found in temperate regions. Further, colonies are often found in open terrain.

Status

Red-tailed bumblebees rank among the most common and most recognized bumblebees of Central Europe, but rarer species have similar appearances, such as "Bombus ruderarius".

This species is widespread across Ireland, though some evidence indicates that the species is declining in agricultural grasslands. It is considered Near Threatened in Ireland.

Further, it has been suggested that different species of bumblebee understand their surroundings according to different scales. This leads to important implications for conservation - the differences in species action is significant in understanding resource range and differences in foraging areas. Understanding of these concepts is vital in conservation efforts in order to help create an environment that is good for many different bee species....hieroglyph snipped... Thus, these bees specifically are very important to agriculture, as they are so important in pollination. Therefore, conservation of "B. lapidarius" is important to understand.

Behavior

Red-tailed bumblebee males utilise sexual pheromones to attract females. Males will fly around and mark spots with the pheromone compounds -9-hexadecenol and hexadecanal via their labial gland. These secretions are highly species specific, thus likely greatly reduce inter-species mating.

"B. lapidarius" typically fly and secrete above the treetops, which are more affected by the effects of the wind and the sun. Therefore, this species typically has to secrete more pheromone than other species to be effective. Further, these compounds were found in trace amounts in the air around the areas that individuals had scent marked.Different populations differing in location have experienced genetic differentiation in pheromone composition.

Habitat

"B. lapidarius" nests have been found in many different habitats, but the bees typically prefer open terrain as opposed to more heavily forested landscapes....hieroglyph snipped...

Food

Red-tailed bumblebees typically eat pollen and nectar. Workers will sometimes attempt to eat the eggs that the queen has laid. The queen makes a valiant effort to prevent this from happening, but the workers are frequently successful in this attempt. Though the queen would not attempt to hurt or injure workers engaging in this activity, she does threaten them with her mandible or sometimes hits the workers with her head. Though this is not well understood, it provides an interesting question for further study.

Further, bees are found to move between specific species of flower, but ignore other species that could be equally as rewarding. One study showed that these bees will stay at a particular flower or food source longer with increased levels of nectar available. however, time at any particular flower did not change with different levels of pollen.

Defense

This species is a type of bumblebee, and thus has the ability to sting.