Bombus magnus

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Bombus magnus
Grote Aardhommel op kogeldistel (Bombus magnus on Echinops ritro).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Subgenus: Bombus
Species:
B. magnus
Binomial name
Bombus magnus
Vogt, 1911
Synonyms
  • Bombus flavoscutellaris
  • Bombus luteostriatus

Bombus magnus is a species of bumblebee. It is native to Europe. [1] It is known by the common name northern white-tailed bumblebee. [2]

Contents

Systematics

This species is very similar to the white-tailed bumblebee (B. lucorum), the buff-tailed bumblebee (B. terrestris), and the cryptic bumblebee (B. cryptarum). They are difficult to identify, even by experts, and several methods have been used to differentiate them. Computer software has been used to identify patterns. [3]

A diagnostic feature of species is the sensillum placodeum on the antennae. [4] With respect to the sensillum, if there is a different morphology, then it is likely that these two or more species are different from one another based on phylogenetic speciation. Another problem is discerning a difference between species. “Cryptic species are those that satisfy an accepted concept of species, but which are closely similar or identical in morphology.” [5] Many times, a specimen will be classified a member of a species based on its similarities to another member of that species. In the case of B. magnus, several taxonomists have argued that it is part of a long-ignored species, or really part of another species and was misidentified. Several species in the subgenus Bombus may actually be species complexes. [5] B. magnus, B. lucorum, and B. cryptarum are referred to as the "white-tailed bumblebee complex". [6]

Another method of species identification is to compare the labial gland secretions of the males. The secretions of B. magnus and the sympatric B. cryptarum both contain ethyl dodecanoate, suggesting they may be closely related. [7]

Certain restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) in the mitochondrial DNA of B. magnus and its close relatives have been analyzed, revealing unique patterns that differentiate them from each other. [8]

Habitat

This species occurs in many types of habitat, especially upland heath and moorland. [1]

Conservation

This species is expected to be impacted by climate change. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Bombus terrestris</i> Species of bee

Bombus terrestris, the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee, is one of the most numerous bumblebee species in Europe. It is one of the main species used in greenhouse pollination, and so can be found in many countries and areas where it is not native, such as Tasmania. Moreover, it is a eusocial insect with an overlap of generations, a division of labor, and cooperative brood care. The queen is monandrous which means she mates with only one male. B. terrestris workers learn flower colors and forage efficiently.

<i>Bombus hypnorum</i> Species of bee

The tree bumblebee or new garden bumblebee is a species of bumblebee common in the European continent and parts of Asia. Since the start of the twenty-first century, it has spread to the United Kingdom and Iceland. These bumblebees prefer habitats that others do not, allowing them to pollinate flowers in areas that many other species do not get to.

<i>Bombus lapidarius</i> Species of bee

Bombus lapidarius is a species of bumblebee in the subgenus Melanobombus. Commonly known as the red-tailed bumblebee, B. lapidarius can be found throughout much of Central Europe. Known for its distinctive black and red body, this social bee is important in pollination.

<i>Bombus hyperboreus</i> Species of bee

Bombus hyperboreus is a species of Arctic bumblebee with a circumpolar distribution. The species is primarily found in the arctic areas of Greenland, northern Scandinavia, and Russia. In 2015 the nearctic species, Bombus natvigi, was separated from this species, based on genetic analysis. Accordingly, Bombus hyperboreus is limited to the Palaearctic, despite older literature listing this species as occurring in the Nearctic.

<i>Bombus vestalis</i> Species of bee

Bombus vestalis, the vestal cuckoo bumblebee, is a species of cuckoo bumblebee that lives in most of Europe, as well as North Africa and western Asia. It is a brood parasite that takes over the nests of other bee species. Its primary host is Bombus terrestris. After its initial classification as Psithyrus vestalis, this bumblebee recently was reclassified into the genus Bombus, subgenus Psithyrus.

<i>Bombus citrinus</i> Species of bee

Bombus citrinus is a species of bumblebee known commonly as the lemon cuckoo bumblebee due to its lemon-yellow color. It is native to eastern North America.

<i>Bombus bohemicus</i> Species of bee

Bombus bohemicus, also known as the gypsy's cuckoo bumblebee, is a species of socially parasitic cuckoo bumblebee found in most of Europe with the exception of the southern Iberian Peninsula and Iceland. B. bohemicus practices inquilinism, or brood parasitism, of other bumblebee species. B. bohemicus is a generalist parasite, successfully invading several species from genus Bombus. The invading queen mimics the host nest's chemical signals, allowing her to assume a reproductively dominant role as well as manipulation of host worker fertility and behavior.

Bombus maxillosus is a species of cuckoo bumblebee found in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland. They have also been located in Zanjan where the DNA of these unlikely species are being collected and tested. B. maxillosus is considered a rare species of the cuckoo bumblebee. The B. maxillosus is an open field species and is also sometimes classified as a wood edge species.

<i>Bombus lucorum</i> Species of bee

Bombus lucorum, the white-tailed bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee, widespread and common throughout Europe. This name has been widely used for a range of nearly identical-looking or cryptic species of bumblebees. In 1983, Scholl and Obrecht even coined the term Bombus lucorum complex to explain the three taxa that cannot be easily differentiated from one another by their appearances. A recent review of all of these species worldwide has helped to clarify its distribution in Europe and northern Asia, almost to the Pacific. B. lucorum reaches the Barents Sea in the North. However, in southern Europe, although found in Greece it is an upland species with its distribution never quite reaching the Mediterranean.

<i>Bombus confusus</i> Species of bee

Bombus confusus is a species of bumblebee found in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland.

<i>Bombus cryptarum</i> Species of bee

Bombus cryptarum is a species of bumblebee. It is native to the northern hemisphere, where it is "one of the most widespread bumblebees in the world." It occurs throughout Europe, Asia, and western North America. It is known commonly as the cryptic bumblebee.

<i>Bombus occidentalis</i> Species of bee

Bombus occidentalis, the western bumblebee, is one of around 30 bumblebee species present in the western United States and western Canada. A recent review of all of its close relatives worldwide appears to have confirmed its status as a separate species.

Pyrobombus Subgenus of insects

Pyrobombus is a subgenus of bumblebees, with its centres of diversity in Central Asia and north-western North America. Nearly a fifth of all Bombus species fall within Pyrobombus and its member species vary considerably in size, appearance and behaviour. it covers 43 species of bees and is the largest subgenus of bumblebees, covering almost 50% of the North American fauna. They are seen to be declined by 6%, which may be an undervalued statistic, although not as high as other groups of bees. Pyrobombus bees also face issues such as climate change, loss of habitat, urbanization, and industrial agriculture. This subgenus of bees can pollinate that helps plants fertilise and grow fruit that is essential to the biodiversity and life of the environment. Commonly, Pyrobombus bees are used for beekeeping as they are pollinators. They can be for wax, honey, venom, combs, and such which may be collected for commercial use. This subgenus may vary in their characteristics such as body size, wingspan, and tongue length for individual species, but like all bees, they possess wings, a head, thorax, and abdomen.

<i>Bombus ruderatus</i> Species of bee

Bombus ruderatus, the large garden bumblebee or ruderal bumblebee, is a species of long-tongued bumblebee found in Europe and in some parts of northern Africa. This species is the largest bumblebee in Britain and it uses its long face and tongue to pollinate hard-to-reach tubed flowers. Bumblebees are key pollinators in many agricultural ecosystems, which has led to B. ruderatus and other bumblebees being commercially bred and introduced into non-native countries, specifically New Zealand and Chile. Since its introduction in Chile, B. ruderatus has spread into Argentina as well. Population numbers have been declining and it has been placed on the Biodiversity Action Plan to help counteract these declines.

Franklins bumblebee Species of bee

Franklin's bumblebee is known to be one of the most narrowly distributed bumblebee species, making it a critically endangered bee of the western United States. It is known only from a 190-by-70-mile area in southern Oregon and northern California, between the Coast and Sierra-Cascade mountain ranges. It was last seen in 2006. Franklin's bumblebee is known to collect nectar and pollen from several wildflowers, such as lupine, California poppy, and horsemint, which causes it to be classified as a generalist forager.

Bombus bifarius, the two-form bumblebee, is a species of eusocial bumblebee of the subgenus Pyrobombus. B. bifarius inhabits mountainous regions of western North America, primarily the states of Colorado and Utah. Its common name refers to a historical artifact, in that it was believed that this species had a color polymorphism, with a red-tailed nominate form and a black-tailed nearcticus form, present in the species. This polymorphism has recently been shown to belong instead to a cryptic sister species, Bombus vancouverensis, that occupies almost the entirety of the range of what was formerly classified as bifarius; true bifarius only has a red form, so it is not "two-formed" at all.

<i>Bombus griseocollis</i> Species of bee

Bombus griseocollis is a species of bumblebee known commonly as the brown-belted bumblebee. It is native to much of the United States except for the Southwest, and to the southernmost regions of several of the provinces of Canada.

<i>Bombus californicus</i> Species of bee

Bombus californicus, the California bumble bee, is a species of bumble bee in the family Apidae. Bombus californicus is in genus Bombus and subgenus Thoracobombus. It is found in Central America and North America. Bombus californicus is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

<i>Bombus vancouverensis</i> Species of bee

Bombus vancouverensis is a common species of eusocial bumblebee of the subgenus Pyrobombus. B. vancouverensis inhabits mountainous regions of western North America, where it has long been considered as a synonym of Bombus bifarius, and essentially all of the literature on bifarius refers instead to vancouverensis. B. vancouverensis has been identified as one of the two species of bumblebee observed to use pheromones in kin recognition. The other is the frigid bumblebee, Bombus frigidus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rasmont, P., et al. 2015. Bombus magnus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 08 March 2016.
  2. Bombus (Bombus) magnus Vogt, 1911. National Biodiversity Network.
  3. Arbuckle, T., et al. (2001). Biodiversity informatics in action: identification and monitoring of bee species using ABIS. In: Proc. 15th Int. Symp. Informatics for Environmental Protection (Vol. 1, pp. 425-430).
  4. Richerson, J.V., Borden, J.H., Hollingdale, J. (1972). Morphology of a unique sensillum placodeum on the antennae of Coiliodes brunneri (Hymenoptera:Braconidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 50(7):909-913.
  5. 1 2 Williams, P. H., et al. (2012). Unveiling cryptic species of the bumblebee subgenus Bombuss. str. worldwide with COI barcodes (Hymenoptera: Apidae). 'Systematics and Biodiversity 10(1) 21-56.
  6. Bumblebee Maths. Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. 22 November 2013.
  7. Bertsch, A., & Schweer, H. (2012). Male labial gland secretions as species recognition signals in species of Bombus. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 40, 103-111.
  8. Murray, T. E., et al. (2008). Cryptic species in a widespread bumble bee complex revealed using mitochondrial DNA RFLPs. Archived April 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Conservation Genetics 9 653-666.

Further reading