Bombus (Bombus) terricola Kirby, 1837

Zarrillo, Tracy A., Stoner, Kimberly A. & Ascher, John S., 2025, Biodiversity of Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) in Connecticut (USA), Zootaxa 5586 (1), pp. 1-138 : 81

Bombus (Bombus) terricola Kirby, 1837

Yellow-banded Bumble Bee

Notes: This North American species has been listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List (Hatfield et al. 2015a) and is listed as “Threatened” in Connecticut (Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection 2015b). It has suffered an average decline of 49.94% (including relative abundance, range, and persistence) across its entire range (Hatfield et al. 2015a). This species has been recorded historically from six of Connecticut’s eight counties and was once common across most of the Northeast and Upper Midwest of the United States. Two Connecticut records were documented in Viereck et al. (1916) from Branford (New Haven County) and Colebrook (Litchfield County), and another record from 1904 was found at AMNH by the authors (a female collected in Litchfield (Litchfield County) on 26 August 1904). Since Zarrillo et al. (2016), 20 more individuals have been captured and 10 individuals have been observed on iNaturalist in the highlands of Litchfield County. Since the first recent detection in 2018 in the town of Canaan (Litchfield County), 29 individuals have been recorded in six neighboring towns. In 2023, Bombus terricola was observed in the town of Litchfield by K. Testerman on iNaturalist, which is the southernmost record in recent years for the state (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170866067). In Connecticut this species has been found in inland wetlands such as Beckley Bog and Bingham Pond (Litchfield County), shrubby meadows, roadside stands of flowers, ROW, and forested habitats. Floral records from Connecticut include Bishop’s goutweed ( Aegopodium podagraria ), pussy willow ( Salix discolor ), European linden ( Tilia cf. europaea ), summersweet ( Clethra alnifolia ), anise-scented goldenrod (S olidago odora ), goldenrod ( Solidago s. l.), king of the meadow ( Thalictrum pubescens ), white meadowsweet ( Spiraea alba ), annual fleabane ( Erigeron annus ), common milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca ) and wild bergamot ( Monarda sp. ).

Subgenus Cullumanobombus Vogt