Bombus pratorum (Linnaeus)

Weissmann, Julie A., Picanco, Ana, Borges, Paulo A. V. & Schaefer, Hanno, 2017, Bees of the Azores: an annotated checklist (Apidae, Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 642, pp. 63-95 : 69

Bombus pratorum (Linnaeus)

Description.

Large black bee (wing length 13 mm in queens and 10 mm in workers and males), queens and workers with a bright yellow band on the thorax close to the head, a second one in the middle of the abdomen on tergite 2 (often paler or missing in workers), and orange tip of the abdomen; males with yellow head, large bright yellow band in the upper part of the abdomen, and orange tip of the abdomen (Fig. 3 g–h).

Distinguishing features.

Smallest bumblebee of the Azores and only bee species with orange tip of abdomen in the archipelago.

General distribution.

From Portugal in the West to Kamchatka in the East, and from northern Scotland in the North to northern Iran in the South.

Distribution in the Azores.

Faial.

First record.

2015.

Nesting.

No nests observed in the Azores, elsewhere the species has colonies of 50-120 individuals in existing cavities on the surface or in the soil.

Social behaviour.

Primitively eusocial.

Foraging.

The only observation in the Azores was on Prunella vulgaris ( Lamiaceae ), elsewhere the species is polylectic.

Phenology.

August.

Material.

None.

Note.

One single observation by Valter Jacinto on Faial Island, Miradouro da Caldeira (c. 850 m asl.), 13 August 2015, (http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1910834).