Bombus suckleyi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bombus suckleyi |
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| St. Brieux, Saskatchewan, 2021 | |
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Bombus
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suckleyi
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The Bombus suckleyi is a type of bumblebee often called Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee. It got its name from a biologist named George Suckley. This bumblebee is special because it's a "cuckoo" bee. This means it doesn't build its own nest or collect food for its babies. Instead, it takes over the nests of other bumblebees, like the western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis). The host bees then feed the cuckoo bee's young.
Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee lives in northwestern North America. You can find it in places like Alaska, parts of western and central Canada, and the western United States.
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What is a Suckley's Cuckoo Bumblebee?
Bumblebees belong to a group of insects called Bombus. Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee, Bombus suckleyi, was first described by John Greene. All cuckoo bumblebees, including Suckley's, are part of a smaller group called Psithyrus.
How to Identify Suckley's Bumblebee
Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee is different from other bumblebees in a few ways. The most important difference is that cuckoo bees do not have pollen baskets on their back legs. Most bumblebees use these baskets to carry pollen and nectar. Cuckoo bees don't need them because they don't collect food for their own young.
Suckley's bumblebee looks similar to other cuckoo bees, like the Ashton cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus bohemicus).
Female Suckley's Bumblebees
Female Suckley's bumblebees are about 0.7 to 0.9 inches (18 to 23 mm) long. They have short hair that can be black, yellow, or white. Their faces are usually black, and their main body (thorax) is mostly yellow.
Their abdomen (the back part of their body) has seven sections. The first two sections are black. The third section has some yellow on the sides and back, but not in the middle. The fourth section is mostly yellow with a black spot in the center front. The fifth section is usually black, but can have some yellow on the sides. The last two sections are black.
Male Suckley's Bumblebees
Male Suckley's bumblebees are a bit smaller than females, about 0.5 to 0.6 inches (13 to 16 mm) long. Their back legs have fewer hairs. The males' colors can vary a lot. The first and fourth sections of their abdomen are always yellow. Some yellow can also be on the second section. The third, fifth, sixth, and seventh sections are black.
Life and Habits of the Cuckoo Bumblebee
Life Cycle and Behavior
Suckley's bumblebee is a "social parasite." This means it depends on other bumblebee species to survive. It cannot collect enough food to raise its own young. Unlike other bumblebees, Suckley's cuckoo bumblebees do not have sterile worker bees. All of them can reproduce.
Female Suckley's bumblebees come out later in the season than their host bees. They find a host colony and take it over, often by killing or taking control of the host queen. The Suckley's female then uses the host workers to collect pollen and nectar to feed her own offspring.
Once the young Suckley's bumblebees grow up, they leave the nest to find mates. After mating, the females eat nectar and pollen, then find a place to spend the winter. The males die after mating.
Suckley's bumblebees have been found in the nests of several host species. These include B. occidentallis, B. terricola, B. rufocinctus, B. fervidus, B. nevadensis, and B. appositus. In California, female Suckley's bumblebees are active from late May to late October. Males are active from early July to late September.
Where Suckley's Bumblebees Live
Suckley's bumblebees live in meadows in western areas, from low to high elevations. Like all bumblebees, they need good places to build nests, plenty of flowers for food (nectar and pollen) from spring to fall, and safe spots for mated females to spend the winter.
Historically, Suckley's bumblebees were common across the western United States. They were often seen in high-elevation meadows within forests or in mountain areas. Bumblebees can travel long distances, often more than 1.25 miles (2 km), to find food. They need a large area of suitable habitat, about 815 to 2,500 acres (3.3 to 10 km2), to have healthy populations.
Suckley's bumblebees and their host species need flowers throughout the whole growing season. This helps them build large colonies. Suckley's bumblebee eats from many different types of flowers. They especially like flowers from the Asteraceae family (like Aster, Chrysothamnus, Cirsium, and Solidago) and some from the Fabaceae family (like Trifolium sp.).
The nests that host Suckley's bumblebees are usually underground. They are often old burrows made by other animals, like rodents. Female Suckley's bumblebees also need places to hibernate during the winter after they mate. They typically hibernate close to the ground, in loose soil, or under leaves and other plant material.
Where They Used to Live and Where They Are Now
Suckley's bumblebee used to be found in 11 western states in the U.S. and 11 Canadian provinces. In Canada, they were historically spread across southern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, with a separate group in Newfoundland.
However, recent observations show that Suckley's bumblebee numbers have dropped a lot. Their population has declined by about 77%. They have also lost more than half of the areas where they used to live.
Protecting Suckley's Bumblebee
Suckley's bumblebee is now considered to be in danger and needs protection. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it as "critically endangered." This means it faces a very high risk of becoming extinct.
Their decline is linked to the decline of the host species they depend on. Other reasons for their decline include pesticides, loss of their natural living areas, competition from introduced species of bees, climate change, and a parasite called Nosema bombi. These threats often work together, making the bees even more vulnerable. Cuckoo bumblebees like Suckley's are especially at risk because they rely so much on their host species.
Suckley's bumblebee is considered a species of "great conservation need" in Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and California. In 2020, people asked for federal protection for Suckley's bumblebee under the Endangered Species Act.
In California, groups like the Xerces Society asked the state to list Suckley's bumblebee as endangered in 2018. In 2019, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to add Suckley's bumblebee and three other bumblebees to the list of protected species. There was a legal challenge about whether insects could be protected under the law, but the court decided that the law was meant to protect all invertebrates, including insects.
