- Also spelled:
- bumble bee
- Also called:
- humble-bee
- Related Topics:
- Bombus terrestris
- Bombus vestalis
- Psithyrus
- social bee
bumblebee
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What is a bumblebee?
Bumblebees are robust and hairy insects belonging to the genus Bombus, which includes over 250 species. They are prevalent in temperate climates and have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand for pollination.
Like honeybees, bumblebees are social insects with nests containing a queen, male drones, and female workers. They nest in the ground, often in deserted bird or mouse nests. They are equipped with stingers but are not typically aggressive, stinging only when provoked.
Bumblebees' bodies consist of three segments: the head, thorax, and abdomen. They average 1.5 to 2.5 cm in length and are usually black with broad yellow or orange bands.
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How can you recognize a bumblebee?
Bumblebees are robust and hairy insects, typically 1.5 to 2.5 cm in length, with bodies divided into three segments: the head, thorax, and abdomen. They are usually black with broad yellow or orange bands.
Key features include two large compound eyes and three simple eyes on the head, along with sensitive odor-detecting antennae. Female workers have a specialized pollen-collecting structure called a corbicula on their hind legs.
Bumblebees are efficient pollinators, crucial for crops and wild plants. They live in social groups with a queen, male drones, and female workers. Though they can sting multiple times, they are not typically aggressive, stinging only when provoked. Carpenter bees resemble bumblebees, but carpenter bees have nonhairy abdomens.
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Where do bumblebees live and build their nests?
Bumblebees, from the genus Bombus, are common in temperate climates and live in organized social groups, with each nest having a fertile queen, drones, and infertile female workers. These bees often build their nests in the ground, typically in abandoned bird or mouse nests.
After spending the winter in hibernation, the nest-building queen lays her eggs in the nest. The first brood develops into worker bees that take over the duties of collecting pollen and caring for the hive. The colony grows, and in late summer, males and new queens are produced. In early fall, the original queen stops laying eggs, and the colony gradually dies out.
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How do bumblebees help plants and flowers?
Bumblebees are efficient pollinators, crucial for various crops and wild plants. As they gather nectar and pollen to feed themselves and their larvae, they inadvertently transfer pollen between flowers, facilitating cross-pollination.
Bumblebees have physical and behavioral adaptations, such as hairy bodies and pollen baskets, that help them collect and transport pollen effectively. Some flowers have evolved to attract bees with bright colors, patterns, and landing platforms, ensuring efficient pollen transfer.
Bumblebees' role in pollination is so significant that their decline could have major ecological consequences.
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What do bumblebees eat and how do they collect their food?
Bumblebees, like other bees, primarily feed on nectar and pollen from flowers. Nectar, a sweet liquid, provides them with the energy they need, while pollen offers protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Adult bees live almost exclusively on nectar, and they feed their larvae pollen and nectar. Some species create honey, a modified form of nectar, for their larvae.
To gather food, bumblebees use their keen eyesight, including the ability to perceive ultraviolet light, along with sensitive odor-detecting antennae. They have specialized structures like long tongues and, on their hind legs, pollen baskets (corbicula) to collect and carry pollen. As they feed, pollen sticks to their bodies and is transferred from one plant to another, facilitating pollination.
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What are some main differences between bumblebees and honeybees?
Both bumblebees and honeybees are crucial pollinators, but they have several key differences. Bumblebees are robust and hairy, typically black with broad yellow or orange bands, and range from 1.5 to 2.5 cm in length. Honeybees belong to the Apis species and are social insects known for producing large amounts of honey.
| Characteristic | Bumblebees | Honeybees |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Size and appearance | Robust and hairy, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, typically black with broad yellow or orange bands| Smaller in size compared to bumblebees |
| Social structure | Colonies with a queen that lives about a year| Highly complex colonies with a queen, worker bees, and drones|
| Pollen collection | Have a specialized pollen-collecting structure called a pollen basket (corbicula) on their hind legs| Possess hairy bodies that help in pollen collection|
| Lifespan | Queen lives about a year| Queen can live up to five years, workers live about six weeks during the active season|
| Stinging behavior | Can sting multiple times but are not aggressive, stinging defensively only if provoked| Equipped with a venomous sting|7 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
bumblebee, (genus Bombus), genus of over 250 species of large bees. Bumblebees occur over much of the world but are most common in temperate climates. They are absent from most of Africa and the lowlands of India and have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand to aid in the pollination of various flowering plants.
Authorities have long recognized two genera: Bombus, the nest-building bumblebees, and Psithyrus, the parasitic cuckoo bumblebees. In the first quarter of the 21st century the group underwent a major taxonomic revision, and Psithyrus is now nested as a subgenus within Bombus.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Superfamily: Apoidea
- Family: Apidae
- Tribe: Bombini
See also list of ants, bees, and wasps.
Physical description
Like all insects, bumblebees have a chitinous exoskeleton, and their bodies are divided into three segments: the head, thorax, and abdomen. Bumblebees are robust and hairy, average about 1.5 to 2.5 cm (about 0.6 to 1 inch) in length, and are usually black with broad yellow or orange bands. Two large compound eyes and three simple eyes, or ocelli, are located on top of the head. Their keen eyesight, which includes the ability to perceive ultraviolet light, is complemented by two sensitive odor-detecting antennae. Workers are equipped with a specialized pollen-collecting structure on the fourth segment of both of the hind legs, known as a pollen basket, or corbicula.
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Like honeybees, bumblebee workers are equipped with a venomous stinger at the tip of their abdomen. Although they can sting multiple times, most are not aggressive and only sting defensively if provoked.
Natural history
Most Bombus species are social bees; i.e., they live in organized groups. Each nest has a fertile queen, drones (males), and infertile female workers. They often nest in the ground, commonly in deserted bird or mouse nests.
The nest-building Bombus queen lays her eggs in the nest after spending the winter in hibernation. The first brood generally develops into four to eight worker bees, all of whom are female. Shortly after emerging as adults these workers take over from the queen the duties of collecting pollen and caring for the hive. The queen then retires to a life of egg laying. For a while only worker progeny are produced, and the colony grows until it contains 50 to 600 bees. In late summer, with the large population of workers bringing in abundant food, males and new queens are produced. Although some males develop from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen, most hatch from eggs laid by workers. In early fall the original queen stops laying eggs, and the colony, including the queen, gradually dies out. During this period the larvae of certain moths and beetles prey on the remaining eggs and larvae in the nest.
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The next season’s queens have developed from eggs laid late in the season. The future queens, when fully grown, leave the nest, mate, and find a sheltered place in which to hibernate for the winter. The lone queens then start new nests in the following spring.
Cuckoo bumblebees
The former Psithyrus species are brood parasites. They are often called cuckoo bumblebees because they lay eggs in the nests of social bumblebees in a manner analogous to some cuckoos (bird order Cuculiformes), which lay eggs in the nests of other birds. Cuckoo bumblebees, having no worker caste, enter the nests of nest-building Bombus species to lay their eggs, which are then cared for by duped workers. The resemblance between a parasitic species and the species it parasitizes is often remarkable. The British species B. vestalis sometimes stings the nest-building Bombus queen to death. There are then no nest-building larvae produced to compete with the parasitic larvae for the attention of the workers. See also cuckoo bee.