Bumble bees that have red on their upper abdomen
Stop the presses! As of July 29, 2020 Washington state has a new bumble bee species. Genetic analysis has determined that the population of the Two form bumble bee, Bombus bifarius in British Columbia has been recognized as a new, separate species. This new species is the Vancouver bumble bee, Bombus vancouverensis. This includes the …
Field ID tips The Frigid bumble bee, Bombus frigidus is a very rarely encountered bumble bee species in Washington. That may be because it is rarely looked for by individuals who go into the high country. That trend seems to be changing. I expect we will be adding additional locations to the map above. It …
As part of our quest to document all the bumble bee species found in Washington state the team of folks behind this website, David Jennings, Lisa Robinson and Don Rolfs established a state record for the High country bumble bee, Bombus kirbiellus. In the summer of 2018 David organized an expedition to one of Washington’s …
High country bumble bee, Bombus kirbiellus/balteatus Read More »
This group is fairly large. To reduce the number of species to compare against, Bumbles with RED are divided into two subcategories: Bumbles with red on the middle of their abdomen, OR Bumbles with red at the hind end of their abdomen Look at your bee: where does the red occur? Based on what you …
Field ID tips The thorax area in front of the wings (anterior thorax) is cloudy-a mixture of yellow and black hairs. The rear of the thorax (scutellum) is black. It may show some yellow on the sides as in the picture above. The two front segments of the abdomen (T1, T2) are yellow. T3 is …
The Forest bumble bee, Bombus sylvicola is a high altitude specialist. Here in Washington it is only found in the lofty elevations in the Olympics and Cascades. In a study done for the National Park Service, Bombus sylvicola, occurred only at sites between 1,113 and 2,023 meters in both parks. The Forest bumble bee, Bombus …
The Hunt bumble bee, Bombus huntii, is in my book one of the most spectacular bumbles we have in Washington. Their colors can be so brilliant. Once you encounter and identify this species, you will rarely have difficult identifying other such individuals. Field ID tips At the photographic detail level, the field marks that distinguish …
I find the Fuzzy-horned bumble bee, Bombus mixtus, to be a common species in Thurston County and much of the west side. It is also found in the north central of the state, and the mountainous areas in eastern Washington. Please reference the Embedded Range Maps page to better interpret# of observations per ecoregion. Field …
how to identify the Black tail bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus in Washington
Within Washington state, this species is most clearly an east side one. While there may be a sighting or two on the west side, over on the east side it can be relatively common. This species clearly shows red on the abdomen. What makes it easy to separate from all others is that the red …