Red-Belted Bumble Bee

Fascinating facts about the Red-Belted Bumble Bee

• Four colour patterns are genetically fixed in this bumblebee, with the second and third abdominal segments bearing either red or black hairs, while the fourth and fifth segments may be yellow or black. The abdomen is conspicuously banded, showing many bright yellow hairs alongside areas of reddish hairs. These colour arrangements are not random but are determined by genetics, giving each individual a distinct but predictable pattern across its body.
• The queen of the red-belted bumblebee measures between 1.6 and 1.8 cm in length and is just under a centimetre wide at the abdomen, making her noticeably larger than the workers. Workers are only about 1.1 to 1.2 cm long and half a centimetre wide, a considerable size reduction that distinguishes the caste. Males fall in between, at 1.2 to 1.3 cm long and half a centimetre wide, showing the species' clear size hierarchy among the three castes.
• Red-belted bumblebees typically build their nests on the surface or slightly above ground. Nests are therefore situated on the ground surface or just above it, rather than underground.
• The short-tongued bee lives in and around wooded areas and can be found in urban parks and gardens. In these habitats it forages on a wide variety of flowering plants such as chicories, snakeroots, strawberries, gumweeds, sunflowers, goldenrods, clovers, vetches and goldeneyes, taking nectar and pollen. By exploiting both natural woodlands and human-made green spaces it can maintain populations across a mosaic of environments.
• The species spans a vast North-American range, covering Canada and the western, midwestern, and northeastern United States.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Red-Belted Bumble Bee

As the warm sunlight dances across the lush meadow, the Red-Belted Bumble Bee emerges, its vibrant orange and yellow stripes glistening like tiny lanterns as it embarks on its busy quest for nectar. With a gentle hum, it navigates the intricate landscape of petals and stems, its fuzzy body a blur of motion as it darts from flower to flower, collecting the precious resources that will sustain its colony. In this whirlwind of activity, the Red-Belted Bumble Bee is a testament to the industry and beauty of the natural world, its very existence a reminder of the delicate harmony that binds our ecosystem together.

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