Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.
QUEEN-�Length 21-25 mm., breadth of abdomen 9.5-11 mm.; black, including legs, spurs and tegulae; wings deeply infuscated, veins testaceous to blackish; pubescence rather short but copious and dense, bright yellow pronotum, tubercles, anterior margin of scutum, and abdominal terga 1-3; scutellum with black or intermixed black and yellow pubescence, and basal tergum more or less intermixed with black; otherwise black over entire head, thorax, legs and abdomen; clypeus doubly punctate, rather closely so laterally and above, with quite coarse and rather close punctures, interspaces with very minute punctures, median line and apical margin to some degree impunctate; labrum broadly rounded or subtruncate apically, a basal protuberance on each side, rather deeply excavated medially, with a subapical, transverse row of rather short, fuscous hairs; inner apical angle of mandible with a pair of rather obscure notches, otherwise rather broadly rounded, outer surface somewhat shining, doubly punctate, with coarse, sparse punctures interspersed with very minute and rather close punctures; malar space smooth and shining, with a few minute, scattered punctures, length about equal to basal width of mandible, about one-fourth length of eye; punctures of face fine and close but deep and distinct medially, becoming somewhat coarser and somewhat more distinctly separated just below ocelli, surface between lateral ocelli and eyes shining and impunctate in part, vertex very finely and densely punctate medially, becoming sparsely punctate laterally; lateral ocelli sub- equally distant from eyes and each other, this considerably less than distance to margin of vertex; scape slightly more than half length of flagellum, basal segment of flagellum considerably shorter than segments 2 and 3 combined; corbicular fringe composed of robust, rather long black hairs, the hind basitarsi very slightly broader at basal third than at apex; tergum 6 narrowly rounded apically. somewhat shining, minutely and rather sparsely punctate toward apex, the broad basal area dull, densely and finely roughened.
WORKER�Length 14-18 mm., breadth of abdomen 6.5-8 mm.; resembles the queen in most details other than size, but thoracic pubescence tends to be more elongate and copious.
MALE�Length 16-22 mm., breadth of abdomen 6.5-8 mm.; black, including legs, spurs and tegulae; wings quite deeply infuscated, veins testaceous to piceous; apical margins of abdominal terga narrowly yellowish-hyaline; pubescence in general quite long and copious, face and cheeks with short, greyish-white pubescence, interspersed with long and erect, black hairs, vertex largely black; pubescence yellow and elongate on pronotum, tubercles, anterior margin of scutum, and pleura adjacent to tubercles, black on posterior two-thirds of scutum, the scutellum, pleura and propodeum with long intermixed black and pale hairs; pubescence largely blackish or dark on legs anteriorly, the posterior fringes more or less pale, fringes on hind tibiae very short and distinctly black on anterior margin, yellowish on the posterior margin; abdominal terga 1-4 densely clothed with elongate and erect, yellow pubescence, 6 and 7 more or less black pubescent on the discs, fringed laterally and on 7 apically with yellowish hairs; tergum 5 is yellow in some specimens, black in others; clypeus closely, finely, deeply and distinctly punctate laterally and above, median apical area shining and impunctate; labrum shining and impunctate across basal margin, otherwise with close, irregular, rather minute punctures, apical margin rather broadly subtruncate, lateral margins rounded; mandibles short and slender, distinctly bidentate apically, the lower tooth more robust than the upper, outer face densely clothed with short, yellowish tomentum, completely hiding the surface, lower margin fringed with elongate, fuscous hairs; malar space smooth and shining, with very minute, scattered punctures, length about equal to basal width of mandible, about one- fourth length of eye; median area of face rather finely and densely punctate, these becoming relatively coarse and well separated toward ocelli, surface between ocelli and eyes shining and sparsely punctate, vertex very closely but rather coarsely punctate medially, becoming somewhat more finely and more sparsely punctate laterally; lateral ocelli very slightly nearer each other than to eyes, sub- equally distant from eyes and margin of vertex; segments 1 and 2 of flagellum equal, segment 3 only slightly shorter than 1 and 2 combined; sterna 7 and 8 and genital armature as shown (fig. 130).
DISTRIBUTION�Quebec to Florida in the East, west to Pacific Coast, throughout season.
FLOWER RECORDS � Aureolaria, Bidens, Cirsium, Cucurbita, Daucus, Eupatorium, Galactia, Hydrolea, Hypericum, Kuhnistera, Liatris, Malus, Medicago, Opuntia, Pontederia, Rhus, Richardia, Rubus, Spiraea, Vernonia and Vicia. Robertson (1929) records this species on the following: Abutilon, Actinomeria, Aesculus, Agastache, Amelanchier, Amorpha, Antennaria, Arctium, Asclepias, Aster, Astragalus, Baptisia, Blephilia, Boltonia, Brauneria, Campanula, Cassia, Cephalanthus, Cerastium, Cercis, Circaea, Claytonia, Clematis, Collinsia, Convolvulus, Coreopsis, Cornus, Crataegus, Crotalaria, Cuphea, Delphinium, Desmodium, Dentaria, Dianthera, Dicentra, Diospyros, Dipsacus, Dodecatheon, Eryngium, Frasera, Gaura, Gentiana, Geranium, Gerardia, Gymnocladus, Helenium, Helianthus, Heliopsis, Heuchera, Hibiscus, Hydrangea, Hydrophyllum, Impatiens, Ipomoea, Iris, Isopyrum, Krigia, Lantana, Leonurus, Lepedeza, Linaria, Lippia, Lithospermum, Lobelia, Lonicera, Ludwigia, Lycopus, Marrubium, Martinia, Melilotus, Mertensia, Mimulus, Monarda, Nelumbo, Nepeta, Oenothera, Orobanche, Oxalis, Pastinaca, Pelatostemum, Pentstemon, Philadelphus, Phlox, Physostegia, Plantago, Podophyllum, Polemonium, Polygonatum, Polygonum, Polytaenia, Potentilla, Prenathes, Prunella, Prunus, Psoralea, Pycnanthemum, Pyrus, Ranunculus, Rhamnus, Ribes, Robinia, Rosa, Rudbeckia, Ruellia, Sagittaria, Salix, Scutellaria, Seymeria, Sida, Silene, Silphium, Sium, Solanum, Solidago, Specularia, Stachys, Staphylea, Strophostyles, Stylosanthes, Symphoricarpus, Tecoma, Teucrium, Tilia, Tradescantia, Triosteum, Trifolium, Uvularia, Verbascum, Verbesina, Verbina, Vernonia, Veronica, Viburnum, Viola, Vitus and Zizia.
The male of pennsylvanicus can be easily confused with that of fervidus (Fabricius). In the latter, however, the malar space is slightly longer than basal width of mandible, and the eyes only about three and one half times length of malar space:
the short greyish pubescence on face and cheeks is much less evident, giving the head a much more definitely black appearance; segment 2 of the flagellum is distinctly shorter than the 1st, and the two combined are distinctly longer than segment 3; the scutellum, pleura and propodeum are definitely yellow pubescent, with no black hairs evident except on posterior surface of propodeum, just below the dorsal triangle; the wings are somewhat less deeply infuscated; the hind tibiae are somewhat more broadly dilated apically, with both the posterior and anterior fringes black.
Reprinted from: LeBerge, W.E., and Webb, M.C. 1962. The Bumblebees of Nebraska. University of Nebraska College of Agriculture-Agricultural Experiment Station, Research Bulletin No. 205
This species is probably the most common in Nebraska. It is found
throughout the state in large numbers.
Female: Head with black pile, some yellow often present on vertex
but vertex never with pile entirely yellow; thorax black at sides, dorsum
yellow anteriorly with interalar band of black pile and scutellum usually
with pile completely black but occasionally with some yellow hairs
intermixed; tergum 1 with pile all yellow or yellow in apical half and
black basally; terga 2 and 3 with yellow pile; terga 4-6 and sterna with
black pile; legs with black hairs.
Male: Head hairs usually entirely black but on face below antennae
and on clypeus often with some white or cinereous hairs intermixed
and vertex rarely with a few yellow hairs intermixed with the black;
thorax yellow with black interalar band; abdomen yellow except last
two terga usually at least partly black above and often entirely black;
legs with hairs dark; outer surfaces of hind tibiae with abundant short
erect or suberect hairs and small punctures obscuring surfaces; eyes not
greatly enlarged, ocelli placed on supraorbital line.
Locality Records. (Fig. 3) Counties: Adams, Antelope, Arthur, Banner,
Blaine, Boone, Box Butte, Boyd, Brown, Buffalo, Burt, Butler,
Cass, Cedar, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Custer,
Dakota, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dixon, Dodge, Douglas, Dundy, Fillmore,
Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Gage, Garden, Garfield, Gosper,
Grant, Greeley, Hall, Hamilton, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt,
Hooker, Howard, Jefferson, Johnson, Kearney, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball,
Knox, Lancaster, Lincoln, Logan, Loup, Madison, McPherson,
Merrick, Morrill, Nance, Nemaha, Nuckolls, Otoe, Pawnee, Perkins,
Phelps, Pierce, Platte, Polk. Red Willow, Richardson, Saline, Sarpy,
Scotts Bluff , Seward, Sheridan. Sherman, Sioux, Stanton, Thayer,
Thomas, Thurston, Valley, Washington, Wayne, \Webster, Wheeler,
York.
Dates Collected. Queens of Bombus americanorum have been taken
in Nebraska as early as April 25 (Lincoln) and as late as November 10
(Lincoln). Workers have been taken in Nebraska as early as May 14
(Lincoln) and as late as November 12 (Lincoln). Males have been taken
as early as July 12 (Lincoln, Mitchell) and as late as October 3 (Lincoln ). Queens are most abundant in May and June, workers in August and September and males in September and October in Nebraska .
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Extracted from Jonathan Koch, James Strange, Paul Williams. 2012. Bumble Bees of the Western United States. A product of the U.S. Forest Service and the Pollinator Partnership with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Sonoran bumble bee Status: Uncommon Select food plant genera:
Gossypium, Viguiera, Helianthus,
Linaria, Chrysothamnus, Kallstroemia Tongue Length: Long Distribution: California central valley south to Baja California
and east to western Texas Can be confused with the yellow form
B. crotchii and B. nevadensis Thorax predominantly yellow with black usually
between wing bases, T1-3 yellow, T4-5 black, face
long. Mid leg basitarsus with the distal posterior corner
sharply pointed (may be hidden by hair). Cheek
longer than broad. Hair of the face and top of head
predominately black. On the side of the thorax, the
lower anterior surface predominantly black, corbicular
fringes black. Hair length short and even.
Extracted from: Laverty T.M., & Harder L.D., (1988). The Bumble Bees of Eastern Canada. Can. Ent. 120: 965-987.
Description. Queen large; worker and male medium to large. Wings dark. Head elongate; malar space about 1.25 times longer than wide. Tongue very long. Colour as in Figure 21. In some females, pile on scutellum with some intennixed yellow hairs (Fig. 21b). In
some males, some or all hairs on TGT7 tinged with orange.
Extracted from: Milliron H.E., (1973). A Monograph of the Western Hemisphere Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae; Bombinae). The Entomological Society of Canada, No. 89.
Description. Queen. Length, 24.0 mm; width at wing bases, 10.0 mm; abdomen, 11.0 mm, width across T2, 11.5 mm; front wing length, 21.0 mm, width, 7.5 mm. Head: Frontal outline (excluding mouthparts) ovate trapezoidal, about as high as its greatest width, the upper angles rounded; vertical region nearly flat, moderately inclined, rather evenly covered with medium irregular punctures; ocellar third of ocellocular area smooth, the remainder of area with rather weak punctation; compound eyes only a little wider below than above, their inner margins nearly parallel; ocelli comparatively small, positioned closer together than their diameters and in a weak arc distinctly below supraorbital line; malar space very little (if any) longer than distance between (and including) mandibular articulations, weakly and somewhat irregularly convex, with some small irregular punctures over lower half; labrum about twice as wide as its greatest thick ness, arcuate labral shelf moderately prominent, the coarsely punctate tubercles well separated but not strongly conical; scape near 3/5 as long as flagellum, FI considerably longer than either rectangular F2 or F3 (2 subequal to 3) and nearly as long as F2-3 combined; clypeus distinctly broader at widest basal portion than median height, rather unevenly but not strongly convex, well covered with small to medium punctures which are somewhat sparser medially below. Legs: Mesobasitarsite very similar to that of f. fervidus (cf.)/ outer surface of hind tibia mostly weakly and unevenly convex mid-longitudinally, somewhat alutaceous, the widest part equal to or slightly exceeding length of longest hairs of corbicular (posterior) fringe; metabasitarsite subrectangular with its outer surface broadly concave mid-longitudinally, the posterior margin arcuate only at base then beyond nearly straight, the widest part near twice that of the length of longest hairs of posterior fringe at basal third, the blunt distoanterior angle somewhat in recess of the acutely rounded distoposterior one. Pubescence: Medium in length, dense and rather even throughout; corbicular fringe for the most part rather dense and of even length, most hairs nearly straight to weakly arcuate except distal ones more strongly so; metabasitarsal posterior fringe of medium length at basal third of margin, gradually becoming short distally. Color: Thoracic dorsum anterior to tegulae, a small more pallid lobe (yellowish intermixed with some black hairs) ex tending onto thoracic pleuron anterior to tegula, the approximate posterior half of abdominal Tl, all of T2-3 yellow, head and remainder of body and legs black except some intermixed yellowish hairs discernible on scutellum. Wings uniformly deeply infuscated throughout, with slight violaceous reflection under certain light.
Worker. Length, 14.5 mm; width at wing bases, 5.5 mm; abdomen, 7.5 mm, width across T2, 6.5 mm; front wing length, 14.0 mm, width, 5.0 mm. Structural features relatively similar to those of the queen. Color pattern like that of the queen except the yellow (usually) slightly paler.
Male. Length, 17.0 mm; width at wing bases, 7.0 mm; abdomen, 9.0 mm, width across T2, 8.0 mm; front wing length, 16.5, width, 5.5 mm. Head: Frontal outline (excluding mouth- parts) roundly trapezoidal, about as high medially as widest dimension, the vertical region weakly convex to nearly flat, well covered with irregular medium punctures; ocellocular area largely impunctate except duller approximate ocular half with few small irregular punctures; ocelli situated in very weak arc only slightly below supraorbital line, removed from one another by less than their diameters; compound eyes somewhat more broadly rounded below than above, their inner margins for the most part subparallel; malar space near l i times longer than distance between (and including) mandibular articulations, weakly convex and well covered with mostly minute punctures; labrum subrectangular, nearly twice as broad as greatest thickness, its ventral margin for the most part nearly straight except arcuate at lower corners, mostly pubescent, the callosities very weak and with few punctures; flagellum with weakly crenulate segments beyond F3, four times longer than scape, FI distinctly longer than subquadrate F2 (noticeably longer thanthick) andlittlemorethani ofF3,Fl-2 combined as long as or only a little longer than F3. Legs: Mesobasitarsite subrectangular, about 4 times longer than greatest width, broadly and weak ly concave mid-longitudinally, the blunt distoanterior angle considerably in recess of the more acute distoposterior one with shallow emargination between; metabasitarsite narrowest basally, the slightly alutaceous (but shining) outer surface broadly concave mid-longitudinally, the posterior margin arcuate at basal third then nearly straight to distal end, the blunt distoanterior angle only slightly in recess of acute distoposterior angle, with shallow emargination between. Pubescence: On head, thorax and abdomen similar to that of the queen but less dense or compact; mesobasitarsal posterior fringe short and rather even in length throughout as is the same posterior fringe on the metabasitarsite. Genitalia, seventh and eighth abdominal sterna (PI. XIII). Color: Head black except for noticeable amount of fine pallid hairs intermixed on face, especially on clypeus); thoracic dorsum yellow (paler than that of the queen and extending farther down on pleura in front of and under wing bases, as on many workers) with rather narrow distinct black interalar band, the remainder of thorax also black; legs black except coxae, trochanters and femora are mostly covered with pallid yellowish pile; abdominal Tl-5 yellow (paler than that on queen abdomen), T6 predominantly black intermixed (especially basally and medially) with some yellowish hairs, T7 black, the abdominal venter for the most part black or blackish. Wings evenly infuscated but paler than those of the queen.
Bombus pennsylvanicus sonorus subspecies of Bomnbus pensylvanicus
Description. Queen. Length, 23.0 mm; width at wing bases, 11.0 mm; abdomen, 12.0 mm, width across T2, 12.0 mm; front wing length, 21.0 mm, width, 8.0 mm. Morphologically, no constant significant characters have been discovered that will separate this taxon from the nominate subspecies (cf. under Comments). Color: Pattern similar to that of nominate sub species except scutellum all yellow (rarely intermixed with any black hairs), the yellow through out is (usually) of deeper or richer shade. Also, refer to Comments.
Worker. Measurements similar to those of this caste under nominate subspecies. Color: Similar to that of the nominate subspecies except for few deviations noted above under queen. Also refer to Comments.
Male. Length, 19.0 mm; width at wing bases, 8.0 mm; abdomen, 10.0 mm, width across T2, 9.0 mm; front wing length, 18.0 mm, width, 6.5 mm. Morphologically like the nominate sub species. Color: Similar to that of the nominate subspecies except the yellow is deeper in shade (or even tawny golden-yellow), the scutellum (usually) completely yellow or predominantly so, the interalar black band usually more definite and often wider, abdominal T5-7 and legs entirely black. Wings usually darker than those of the nominate subspecies. Genitalia and abdominal sterna 7-8 like those of p. pennsylvanicus (PI. X III).
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