| Common Carder Bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum (Scopoli, 1763)) |
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Scientific name: Bombus pascuorum (Scopoli, 1763) Common name: Common Carder Bumblebee French name: Bourdon des champs Order: Hymenoptera Family: Apidae Wingspan : Queen 15 to 18 mm, worker 9 to 15 mm, male 12 to 14 mm. Biotope: Low growing vegetation and woodland edges. It feeds on nectar. Geographic area: Widespread and common in Europe. Observation period : April to October. This one of the last bumblebees to disappear in autumn. |
The top of the Common carder bumblebee's thorax shows ruffled orange hairs. The following segments are dark grey and pale yellow. It lives in colonies of 130 to 200 insects in a nest on the ground or just below the surface. The colonies disappear in autumn when the queen dies. Some young mated queens over winter and establish new colonies in spring. |
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The stillness of this bumblebee allowed me to get very close to take the picture. |
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After the top view, here is the side view. |
André Bon March 2009