Images

For some reason I have not put up a Bombus perplexus shot yet. Here is one that Wayne Boo did a couple of years ago and I am just now getting around to shopping. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

More Bombus perplexus shots, in this case...males. You can tell they are males because they have 13 rather than 12 antennal segments and the hind legs lack the pollen carrying corbicula (bare area) on the tibia. Lemon yellow though! Specimens from Central Pennyslvania from Laura Russo's study there. Photographs by Kelly Graninger.

More Bombus perplexus shots, in this case...males. You can tell they are males because they have 13 rather than 12 antennal segments and the hind legs lack the pollen carrying corbicula (bare area) on the tibia. Lemon yellow though! Specimens from Central Pennyslvania from Laura Russo's study there. Photographs by Kelly Graninger.

Sections of a male Bombus perplexus, illustrating the hair and shape patterns. A regular, but somewhat uncommon bumble bee, that is noted for the more extensive yellow hairs on the thorax and abdomen than most bumble bee species. Photographs by Greta Forbes.

Let us present the first record of Bombus rufocinctus for the state of Pennsylvania. This is a not uncommon northern and western species....it just hasn't been found in PA as of yet. Some notes on its identification.

Let us present the first record of Bombus rufocinctus for the state of Pennsylvania. This is a not uncommon northern and western species....it just hasn't been found in PA as of yet. Some notes on its identification.

Let us present the first record of Bombus rufocinctus for the state of Pennsylvania. This is a not uncommon northern and western species....it just hasn't been found in PA as of yet. Some notes on its identification.

Another bumble bee! How many can there be? Answer: About 50 north of Mexico. Here is a widespread northern one. Bombus rufocinctus. Collected in Yellowstone National Park. Photograph by Colby Francouer.

Three more bumblebees today from Yellowstone National Park, or should I say three more pictures of one bumblebee. These are shots of Bombus rufocinctus. This species is notoriously variable in its hair coloration. In this particular shot there is a great deal of reddish orange in the abdomen.

A common northern Bumble bee, Bombus ternarius seems to be relatively unaffected by the pathogen Nosema bombi that has impacted many other species. While not very visible in this view (but visible elsewhere in our collection) this species show bright orange on its abdomen and often causes people to think they have B.

This is the main orange butted Bumblebee of the East. Bombus ternarius. It can be very common in places like the Adirondacks where this one was collected, but occurs throughout a wide range of the Upper Midwest to New England and throughout southern Quebec and Ontario in our gardens and fields.

This is the main orange butted Bumblebee of the East. Bombus ternarius. It can be very common in places like the Adirondacks where this one was collected, but occurs throughout a wide range of the Upper Midwest to New England and throughout southern Quebec and Ontario in our gardens and fields.

Bombus terrestris - A domesticated bee. Widely used in agriculture in green house pollination as well as in the field. Also one that has been introduced into several parts of the world... Causing major problems in South America where some combination of competition and disease harms the native bumble bees.

Bombus terrestris - A domesticated bee. Widely used in agriculture in green house pollination as well as in the field. Also one that has been introduced into several parts of the world... Causing major problems in South America where some combination of competition and disease harms the native bumble bees.

There are about 50 species of bumble bees north of Mexico. Here is a common northern species that creeps down the mountains to the Appalachians. It also appears to be retracting its southern range edge...perhaps due to global warming or who knows? Still common in the north, but something to keep track of.

A series of pictures of a queen and a male of the northernish bumble bee Bombus vagans. Still a reasonable common component of northern Appalachian systems, its been retreating from its lower elevation and southern edges over the last century.

The female face of the series we took of B. vandykei from Yosemite National Park. Just cleaning up.

In the female, Bombus vandykei is almost all Black but here in the male it is almost all yellow. Why? Hard to say, but still a common species out West and that question is still available for study. This fellow is from Yosemite National park collected for a project done by Lauren Ponisio examining the effect of fire diversity on bees (Ponisio et al.

Bombus variabilis, male, St. Mary's County, Maryland, Nest parasite, now extremely rare

More black bumble bees from Yosemite National Park. Here is the male of Bombus vosnesenskii. This species was described by the relatively prolific Polish Taxonomist Oktawiusz Wincenty Bourmeister-Radoszkowski who pumped out a great many new descriptions of bees in many parts of the world.

One of the common and strikingly dark western bumble bees. This species largely restricted to coastal and Sierra ranges. The current specimen comes from Claire Kremen's study of Yosemite National Park bees. Photographs by Anders Croft.