Bombus rupestris vasco (Lepeletier 1833)

Ornosa, Concepción, Torres, Félix & Rúa, Pilar De La, 2017, Updated list of bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from the Spanish Pyrenees with notes on their decline and conservation status, Zootaxa 4237 (1), pp. 41-77 : 56

Bombus rupestris vasco (Lepeletier 1833)

This endemic subspecies spreads through the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Range, Sierra de los Ancares, Sierra de Béjar, the Iberian system and the provinces of Logroño and Segovia, between 800 and 2000 m of altitude ( Ornosa & Ortiz-Sánchez 2004). It was common in the past in the Pyrenees (55 recorded individuals, Ornosa 1984, 1986a, Ornosa & Gayubo 1989, Castro 1989).

Currently, it is rare ( Table 2 ) and has been collected only three times in supraforestal grassland, with patches of subalpine scrubland, between 1589 and 1882 m ( Fig. 7 ) on Eryngium bourgatii Gouan. , Gentiana lutea L, Lotus corniculatus L., Medicago sativa L. , and Trifolium pratense L. There is another recent record from Sierra del Caurel in Galicia (Lugo: Liñares, 1300 m, 3-IX-10, 1 male, R. Outerelo leg., UCME).

According to current records, B. r. vasco is decreasing in the Pyrenees ( Table 2 ) and it shows a greater elevational tendency in the lower level of its range ( Fig. 7 ).

New records. Spain: Huesca: Formigal, 9-VII-2009, 1 queen, C. Ornosa leg., UCME . Panticosa , alto, 5-VII- 2006, 1 queen, C. Ornosa leg., UCME ; Lleida : Baños de Tredós slope, 10-VII-2014, 1 queen, F. Torres leg., UCME .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Distribution (in meters) range of the bumblebee species and subspecies observed in contemporary samplings (grey rectangles) in the Pyrenees compared with the known altitude distribution (black bars) from historical data.