Golden northern bumble bee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Golden northern bumble bee |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Bombus
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| Species: |
fervidus
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| Bombus fervidus distribution map | |
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The golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus), also known as the yellow bumblebee, is a type of bumblebee found in North America. It has a bright yellow body with a black band between its wings. You can find these bees across most of North America, but not in the far southern United States, Alaska, or northern Canada.
These bumblebees are often seen in cities and on farms. They are especially common in the northeastern United States. The golden northern bumble bee looks a lot like its close relative, Bombus californicus. Sometimes, people also confuse it with the American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus) or the black and gold bumblebee (Bombus auricomus).
Golden northern bumble bees are very important pollinators. They help plants grow by carrying pollen from one flower to another. Because of this, scientists are worried about their recent population decline. These bees also have interesting behaviors, like working together to defend their nests from enemies.
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What is a Golden Northern Bumble Bee?
The golden northern bumble bee, Bombus fervidus, was first identified in 1798 by a Danish scientist named Johan Christian Fabricius.
This bee belongs to a large group of insects called Hymenoptera. This group includes wasps, ants, and other bees. The word Bombus is Latin for "buzzing," which describes the sound bumblebees make. B. fervidus is also part of the Apidae family, which is a very diverse group of bees. This family includes honeybees, orchid bees, bumble bees, and carpenter bees.
B. fervidus is very closely related to Bombus californicus. In some places where both species live, it can be hard to tell them apart just by looking at them. Sometimes, only a special genetic test can show which species a bee belongs to.
How to Identify a Golden Northern Bumble Bee
Golden northern bumble bees are usually about 13 to 16 millimeters (about half an inch) long. However, queens, workers, and males (drones) have slightly different sizes and features.
The first four yellow sections on their abdomen are called tergites. Their head is black, and they have yellow fur on their sides, which extends down to their legs. There is a black band between their wings. Their wings are dark or dark gray, and their body is covered in thick hair.
B. fervidus has a long tongue. This helps them get nectar and pollen from flowers that have long, tube-shaped petals. Males have a bit more yellow on their abdomen and can be tricky to tell apart from B. pensylvanicus and B. californicus. Female workers have a wingspan of about 40 mm, while males have a wingspan of 22 mm.
| Role | Length | Abdomen width | Wingspan | Key Features |
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| Queen | 19–21 mm | 9.5 mm | 4 cm | Mostly black, including legs; dark wings. |
| Worker | 10.5 mm | 4–6.5 mm | 36 mm | Looks like the queen but smaller. |
| Drone (Male) | 11–20 mm | 5–7 mm | 32 mm | Mostly black, including legs; lighter wings. |
Where Golden Northern Bumble Bees Live
B. fervidus lives in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They are found across a wider area than scientists first thought.
These bees prefer open areas like grasslands and savannas. They can also live in suburban areas and on farms. They are quite common in places where cattle graze.
Nests
Golden northern bumble bees build their nests from soft, loose grass, sometimes mixed with animal droppings. They likely carry these materials into the nest themselves. Their nests are usually in open, grassy spots, including forests and along roads. Most nests are built underground, but some are found above ground. Nests are typically close to food sources, usually within 50 meters (about 164 feet) of enough flowers to feed the whole colony.
Life Cycle of a Bumble Bee Colony
A queen Bombus fervidus starts a new colony by laying eggs in special cells she builds inside the nest. She lays about 8 to 10 eggs at first, one in each cell. When these eggs hatch, tiny larvae (baby bees) come out. These larvae eat honey to grow. The queen makes this honey for them until they are ready to change into adults.
When a larva is ready, it spins a cocoon around itself. Inside the cocoon, it goes through a process called Metamorphosis, where it changes into an adult bee. This change usually takes 16 to 25 days.
Once the adult bees emerge from their cocoons, they become workers. This first group of workers is responsible for feeding the next generations of larvae and the queen. This allows the queen to focus on laying more eggs. Because of this, each new generation of B. fervidus bees is larger than the one before it.
Nest Population
A typical nest might have about four eggs, fifteen larvae, forty-two pupae, and seventeen adult bees. Ten of the adults are workers, and the rest are males (drones). Among the pupae, there might be 37 males, 5 future workers, and only one future queen. Workers usually live for about 34 days.
Reproduction and Lifespan
Male bumblebees, called drones, have one main job: to reproduce. In the fall, males and newly hatched queens mate. After mating, the young queens find a safe place underground to hibernate for the winter. All the other bees in the colony will die when the weather gets cold.
In the spring, the queens come out of hibernation. They eat pollen and nectar until they are ready to lay their first eggs. Before laying eggs, they build a nest out of grass and make a wax pot to store honey. They fill this honey pot after collecting enough pollen.
Breeding happens during the summer months. Most worker bees live for only a short time because their work is very hard. Queens, however, can live for about 12 months.
B. fervidus workers are important because they make the honey that the queen and the growing larvae eat. They do this by chewing pollen and mixing it with their saliva. Since they need a lot of pollen for honey, workers spend much of their time flying from flower to flower, collecting nectar and pollen. While doing this, they also help pollinate the flowers.
When a worker bee first emerges from its cocoon, it spends most of its time helping the queen and building a bigger nest for the growing colony. If a colony gets too big, new queens might sometimes be forced to leave the nest early or even be killed by other workers before they can mate. Most B. fervidus bees do not live for more than a few months because of their hard work and the cold winter weather. Only the queens live for about a year.
Bumble Bee Behavior
Bombus fervidus workers feed the queen and the young bees by chewing pollen and mixing it with their saliva to make honey. To get enough food, these bees spend a lot of time searching for pollen and nectar. As they do this, they pollinate flowers, which is a very important role in nature.
When a new worker bee hatches, its first job is to take care of the queen and her eggs. Even though the queen starts the colony alone, new workers help the colony grow by adding dead grass to the nest. If the colony becomes too large, new queens might have to leave the nest early or even be killed by other workers before they can mate.
Male bumblebees (drones) mainly help with reproduction. They often leave the nest and live on their own until the fall, when they mate and then die.
Foraging for Food
Bombus fervidus workers usually look for food in the afternoon, which is often the warmest part of the day. One bee can visit as many as forty-four flowers in a minute! Each visit can give them about 0.05 milligrams of nectar if another insect hasn't already visited that flower. This means a B. fervidus bee can collect about 2.2 milligrams of sugar per minute.
These bees also build up stores of food like nectar and pollen in their nests. They use these stores to feed themselves and help the colony grow. B. fervidus are excellent at finding food. Sometimes, they work so hard and fast that they can even die from exhaustion.
What They Eat
Bombus fervidus bees are nectarivores, meaning they mostly get their food from the sugary nectar of flowering plants. Young bees (brood) are fed pollen. When these bees collect food from flowers, they also pollinate them. This is a great example of a mutual relationship between bees and plants, where both benefit.
The long tongue of B. fervidus helps the bee reach deep inside longer flowers to get nectar before other insects can. This suggests that having a long tongue was helpful for their survival over time. Adult bees chew pollen and mix it with their saliva to make honey. This special honey is then fed to the larvae and the queen. Because B. fervidus bees are so efficient, their colonies can grow very large.
They visit many different types of plants, including aster, black-eyed Susan, common milkweed, Queen Anne's lace, dandelions, bull thistle, goldenrod, jewelweed, devil's beggartick, Joe-pye weed, climbing bitter-sweet, black willow, yellow poplar, American holly, ragweed, greater bladderwort, blueberry, jimsonweed, honeysuckle, and rose mallow.
How They Communicate
Unlike honeybees, Bombus fervidus bees do not "dance" to tell each other where food is. Instead, each bumblebee worker finds food on its own. This is because their habitats usually don't have huge food sources that many workers could use at once.
How They Interact with Other Species
Defense Against Predators
Bombus fervidus bees have different ways to protect themselves from predators. If an unwanted visitor enters the nest, the bees might cover it with honey. If a young bee that can't fly yet feels scared inside the nest, it might lift its middle legs. If the danger increases, the bee will lie on its back, ready to defend itself, with its stinger pointing up and its jaws open.
Adult bees will fly out of the nest to sting and bite attackers. Unlike honeybees, bumblebees do not lose their stinger or die after stinging. This means they can sting an attacker many times, which gives them a better chance of survival. Workers change their attack method depending on the intruder. If the intruder is harmless or weak, like a honeybee, the bumblebee will grab it and sting it to death. If the intruder is strong, the bumblebees might try to cover it with honey.
Some known predators of Bombus fervidus include:
- Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia)
- Goldenrod spider (Misumena vatia)
- Green darner (Anax junius)
- Least shrew (Cryptotis parva)
- Striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis)
- Great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)
- American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
- Eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus)
- Southern leopard frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus)
- A cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus ashtoni)
Parasites
One very successful parasite of many Bombus species is Bombus ashtoni, a type of cuckoo bumblebee. This parasite lives inside the host's nest and eats the host's eggs. Because of this, the host workers end up taking care of the parasite's young instead of their own. The earlier this parasite enters a host nest, the longer it will wait before laying its own eggs. The parasite lays its eggs when the host workers are growing. This leads to fewer host workers being raised in the nest. The parasite slowly replaces the host's eggs with its own, allowing both species to invest in the colony at the same time.
Role in the Ecosystem
The most important role of Bombus fervidus in nature is pollinating many flowering plants. This means these bees are very helpful to humans because they help pollinate many important food crops. However, one negative thing about B. fervidus for humans is that they will sting right away if they feel threatened, as a way to defend themselves.
Conservation Status
Like most bumblebees, the Bombus fervidus population is decreasing and needs protection. Their numbers have gone down across most of North America. The biggest threat to them is the loss of their favorite grassland habitats, which are being turned into farmland. The IUCN currently lists B. fervidus as a vulnerable species.
