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Bombus veteranus

 

 

 

 

To differentiate between the shrill carder bee and the Bombus veteranus we must train our eyes somewhat. Both are relatively small and prefer living in dry flower-rich meadows and road verges rather than icultured fields. Both have a black patch between the wings; seeing it sidewise we see that its front edge is not clearly defined as it is for the white-tailed bumblebee or the heath bumblebee but created by a diffuse mixture of pale and dark hairs. The hips are yellow for both the shrill carder bee and B. veteranus.

 

Although it is classfied as grey, the shrill carder bee with its straw yellow to olive green fur and the orange abdomen tip is one of the most colourful species in Estonia. Dark bands also delineate the abdomen and the black band on the third segment of the abdomen immediately before the reddish abdomen tip is particularly apparent. At the back edges of the abdomen there are narrow yellow lines formed by rows of yellow hairs. The colours of the shrill carder bee can fade so it may look pale greyish.

 

Sometimes the melanistic form of the shrill carder bee can be found (B. sylvarum var. nigrescens), which has been mistaken for the red-shanked carder bee (B. ruderarius) To differentiate between their queens we must look at details in the characteristics: the last segments of the abdomen, shiny black for the shrill carder bee, dull for the red-shanked carder bee. The shrilll carder bee differs from the dark form of the red-tailed bumblebee (B. lapidarius) by the more elongated face shape and the sharp spine on the lower outer edge of the first broadened segment of the middle foot.

 

The B. veteranus has no reddish tip on the abdomen. The abdomen is covered to the tip end with stripes formed by the dark hairs on the front edge of each segment and the pale hairs on the back edge, more uniformly than for the shrill carder bee. Compared to the shrill carder bee the B. veteranus has longer mouth parts.

 

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