next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects On 10/5/06 3:20 PM, "Angus MacLean" <angusmcl@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote: > Yesterday I spent some time in Palmeter Woods (West Kentville). > One of the Bees had an orange band across the abdomen. This is not one of > the (14) Bombus species found in NS and I don't know which genera it > belongs to. I could not get a good photo yesterday (continually moving) but > I found one that I photographed on August 17 which is here: > > http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=261608676&size=m > > Sorry for the quality. Can anyone offer a lead? > Angus > Angus: There are two species of bumble bees in NS that have reddish abdomens. The most common. To my eye the one you have photographed is _Bombus ternarius_. The feature I use to clinch the identification is the pattern of black on the thorax. It has an arrow that points back between the wings. The top view photos at http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Bombus+ternarius&guide=Bumblebees show this. However that is difficult to see in this photograph. The other reddish species, _Bombus rufocinctus_ has a black middle of the thorax, but lacks the backwards pointing arrow. The best source for identification is Laverty and Harder. 1988. The bumble bees of eastern Canada. Canadian Entomologist 120: 965-987. It has a good series of line drawings showing colours on workers, queens and males. For most species this works for identification, and those that it does not work for are pointed out. Since records were compiled for this in the mid-1980s, there has been a large increase in populations of _Bombus impatiens_ in NS. In the early 1990s I did not find them on Cape Breton at all. This fall, they are the most common species I have seen, from Bon Portage to Georges River in Cape Breton. David McCorquodale David McCorquodale Department of Biology Cape Breton University Box 5300, 1250 Grand Lake Rd., Sydney, NS B1P 6L2, CANADA 902-563-1260 david_mccorquodale@capebretonu.ca FAX: 902-563-1880
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects