11/20/2023 0 Comments Bumbled bee![]() ![]() Mated queens overwinter, but the rest (males, old queen, and workers) die at the end of the season. In late summer, males and new queens leave the nest to mate. ![]() Mated queens emerge in the early spring to find and establish a nest location and then proceed to lay their eggs. The historic range of this once common bumble bee spanned across Canada however, since 2003, populations in the southern part of its Canadian range have declined by at least 34%. They generally nest and overwinter in mixed woodland habitats, nesting in abandoned rodent burrows, and overwintering underground in decaying organic matter.Ĭurrently, the yellow-banded bumble bee has a typical range stretching from the Yukon boreal forest down into southern Ontario, and the northeast and northern portions of the midwest United States. Yellow-banded bumble bees are habitat generalists as they are found in a wide variety of meadows, grasslands, wetlands, forests, urban areas, boreal habitats and farms. These bees emerge early in the spring meaning they require early flowering plants as well as others that bloom throughout their active season in order to have a constant food sources Habitat and Range: Yellow-banded bumble bees feed on the nectar and pollen of a wide variety of plants. After the black band is a large yellow band (has two sections upon close inspection), followed by a smaller black band and a final small yellow section right at the end of its abdomen. Just behind their head, on their thorax, these bees have a yellow band followed by a large black band that extends to its abdomen (its wings are found in this black band). The yellow-banded bumble bee is a medium-sized bumble bee with a black head, short hair, and characteristically short tongue (it is shorter than most other bee species). Without healthy pollinator populations, agricultural yields will decrease and global food shortages will quickly become a reality! Species identification: After spring these bees continue to provide significant pollination services which are essential to the growth of backyard gardens and healthy food crops. The Yellow-banded Bumble Bee emerges early in the spring, making it an important pollinator of early flowering species such as wild blueberry and apple crops. The old queen does not usually live past the late summer or fall.Status: Special Concern in Canada since 2018 and in Ontario since 2016 Value to Property Owners and Ecosystems: The males die and the large females which are destined to become next years queens feed heavily in preparation for hibernation in overwintering sites. The late summer males and females that emerge leave the nest and mate. By mid summer, the queen not only lays eggs destined to become daughters, but also lays eggs that will become males or drones. Throughout the summer more mature daughters emerge and so the colony grows in numbers and the workers also become larger as their food limitation becomes less. The mature daughters become the foraging force. With the first batch of mature daughters the queen forages less and less and instead stays in the nest and rears more daughters. These workers are generally very small as the queen was only able to provide them with limited food. The queen raises her daughters through several larva stages, a pupa stage and upon completion of this stage they metamorphose to worker bees, in a month to a month and a half. When the eggs hatch, the queens forage for pollen and nectar on early spring flowering trees and shrubs and early blooming herbaceous wild flowers. The queens lay fertilized eggs, incubate them and keep them warm with their body heat. Nest sites are often abandoned rodent or rabbit burrows that the queens find by smell. ![]() In the early spring, queens emerge from their overwintering sites and search for nest sites. Many of these sites are in the forest edge. The queens then seek out protected overwintering sites in stonewalls and fallen trees. In the late summer and fall they mate (the males die) and the queens feed heavily on late summer and fall flowers such as asters and goldenrods. Only new queens (produced at the end of the summer) overwinter. The general life cycle of the bumble bee differs a bit in different parts of the U.S., but in the Northeast the life cycle is as follows. ![]()
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