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Sonoran Bumble Bee

Sonoran Bumble?
Location: Hawthorne, CA
October 1, 2011 2:02 pm
Hi,
We have a lot of bumble bees in the yard this time of year. This particular bee looks like a Sonoran, but it’s stripes aren’t as yellow as others. Is it a Sonoran or some other type of bumble bee. Is it maybe a female Sonoran?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon

sonoran bumble bee anna 300x206 Sonoran Bumble Bee

Sonoran Bumble Bee

Hi Anna,
Though the photo you sent us in July shows the distinguishing thin black band across the thorax more distinctly than these current photos, we agree that this is a Sonoran Bumble Bee, Bombus sonorus.  The pale coloration might be an individual variation, or this might be an older and more faded bee.

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Posted 02 October 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Bumble Bee

Bumblebee found on Autumn Joy
Location: Decatur, GA
September 19, 2011 9:49 pm
Hi, I found this bumble bee on an Autumn Joy in front of my house yesterday. What interested me about it was its beautiful eyes. What species of bee is this?
Also, many bees on the flowers are very slow moving. Why is that?
Signature: Adrya Stembridge

bumblebee adrya 300x255 Bumble Bee

Bumble Bee

Dear Adrya,
There are so many Bumble Bees in the genus Bombus, which is further classified into numerous subgenera, that we are often confused when it comes to species identifications.  Typically, the markings on the abdomen are used in identification, and your photo does not clearly show the abdominal markings.  You can try browsing the numerous species on BugGuide and you will see how difficult it can be to correctly identify a Bumble Bee.  As the weather begins to cool, the metabolism of insects slows down, and the approach of winter might be the reason your bees are moving slower than usual.

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Posted 20 September 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Location:  Elyria Canyon State Park, Mt Washington, Los Angeles, California
August 13, 2011
WE keep returning to the Milkweed Meadow to document the progress there, and the Monarch Caterpillars have both vanished.  The Bumble Bee is usually there during the time the sun strikes the blooms, but we are still not certain if this is Crotch’s Bumble Bee or the California Bumble Bee.

bumble bee beetle milkweed 20110813 300x206 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Which Bumble Bee is it???

  We also noticed numerous tiny beetles on the milkweed blossoms.

bumble bee milkweed 20110813 300x206 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles on Milkweed

Alas, the old model digital camera we are using does not have a macro setting that will allow us to get closer.  We would like to identify these beetles.  After the fact, we had a terrible thought that they might be the Walnut Twig Beetles that are spreading the 1000 Cankers Diseaseto black walnuts in the western states.  This matter will take additional research.  Many beetles with wood boring larvae feed on pollen as adults.  We should return tomorrow morning and collect a few specimens to take to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

tiny beetles milkweed 20110813 300x206 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Soft Winged Flower Beetles on Milkweed blossoms

These is about the largest closeups that we can make.

tiny beetles milkweed cu 300x248 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Soft Winged Flower Beetles on Milkweed

tiny beetles milkweed 20110813 cu 2 300x225 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Soft Winged Flower Beetles on Milkweed

tiny beetles milkweed 20110813 cu 300x231 Milkweed Meadow: Bumble Bee and Soft Winged Flower Beetles

Soft Winged Flower Beetles on Milkweed

Eric Eaton to the Rescue, Again
Daniel:
These are pretty easy to subfamily level.  They are soft-winged flower beetles in the family Melyridae, subfamily Dasytinae.  After that it gets really messy, really fast!  Nobody wants to try to ID them even to genus…..
Eric

 

 


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Posted 15 August 2011 § Soft Winged Flower Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

August 4, 2011
We walked back to the Milkweed Meadow in Elyria Canyon Park this morning to check on the status of the two Monarch Caterpillars, Danaus plexippus, thinking that they might have transformed into chrysalides, but I could only find one of the caterpillars.  Hopefully the other was just elsewhere, or perhaps it found a nice place to metamorphose into a chrysalis

monarch cat 20110804 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Monarch Caterpillar

A very wary Bumble Bee would not let me get close enough with the camera, and after several aborted attempts, we were lucky enough to get a few photos.  This is most definitely not a Yellow Faced Bumble Bee.  We were not able to get any photos of the abdominal markings until the last image.

california bumblebee 20110804 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Crotch's or California Bumble Bee???

Just as it was flying off it showed its signature markings, but interestingly, it doesn’t match any of the images on BugGuide for the four species that Charles Hogue, in his landmark book Insects of the Los Angeles Basis, indicates are found locally.  After a bit more searching, we determined it might be Crotch’s Bumble Bee, Bombus crotchii, based on the illustration on the North American Bumble Bees and confirmed on the third photo down on the Las Pilitas Nursery webpage, and that appears to agree with this BugGuide image as well.  The Discover Life website also has photos.  Continued research is filling us with doubts.  It seems to match what we identified as a California Bumble Bee when we found one napping on the wisteria this spring.

california bumblebee 20110804 2 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Crotch's or California Bumble Bee???

There appeared to be more Large Milkweed Bugs today than on Sunday, and there were several places where the Milkweed Aphids, AKA Oleander Aphids, Aphis nerii, were quite plentiful.  Read more about Milkweed Aphids on BugGuide.

milkweed aphids 20110804 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Milkweed Aphids

Before leaving, I made sure to pull some more Marestail or Horseweed, Conyza species (See Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide or CalFlora) and more of that prickly yellow flower that is still not properly identified that might be a Spiny Sowthistle, Sonchus asper (See Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide).

Update:  on the Bumble Bee identity
August 5, 2011
Now we aren’t certain if the Bumble Bee is a California Bumble Bee or a Crotch’s Bumble Bee.

Update:  August 7, 2011
I returned to the Milkweed Meadow in Elyria Canyon Park to search for the Monarch Chrysalis, but the only caterpillar I could find has still not metamorphosed. 

monarch cat 20110807 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Monarch Caterpillar in Elyria Canyon, August 7, 2011

I did get some additional photo of the Bumble Bee as well.  Here are the abdominal markings from a different angle.

bumblebee milkweed 20110807 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Which Bumble Bee is it? Crotch's or California???

Update:  August 11, 2011
I made a trip to the Milkweed Meadow in Elyria Canyon Park this evening about 6:30 and I was unable to find any Monarch Caterpillars.  I hope they wandered away from the milkweed to find a suitable location to transform into chrysalides.  I photographed a couple of Large Milkweed Bugs. 

large milkweed bugs 20110811 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Large Milkweed Bugs

The new addition to the insects that have become part of the milkweed ecosystem are Small Milkweed Bugs.  I found them  on two different milkweed plants. 

small milkweed bug 20110811 2 300x225 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Small Milkweed Bugs

The individual I photographed was a difficult subject, and it kept hiding among the blossoms of the milkweed inflorescence.  I needed to intervene by including my hand in the photo to get a nice angle on the unwilling subject.

small milkweed bug 20110811 300x206 Milkweed Meadow Continued: Which Bumble Bee is it?????

Small Milkweed Bug

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted 04 August 2011 § Aphids, Scale Insects, Leafhoppers, and Tree Hoppers § brush footed butterfly caterpillars § Mt Washington Blog ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Hanging Thief eats Bumble Bee

Wasp Predating on Bee
Location: Eatonton GA (Middle GA)
July 20, 2011 6:30 am
Hello!
I love the daily Bug posts on Facebook. I’m a gardener and see all sorts of interesting insects. Here are two photos of a wasp eating a bee in my pole beans. I don’t know what kind of wasp this is – they typically eat pests and nectar. I think the bee is a wood bee – we have many of them.
Signature: GA Gardener

hanging thief eats bee georgia 300x204 Hanging Thief eats Bumble Bee

Hanging Thief eats Bumble Bee

Dear GA Gardener,
This adroit predator is a Hanging Thief, a species of Robber Fly, and it appears that it has caught and is feeding upon a small Bumble Bee.  You should be able to tell how the Hanging Thief got its common name as your photo clearly shows it hanging from a single leg as it is feeding.  The prey is typically caught on the wing.

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Posted 20 July 2011 § Robber Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Sonoran Bumble Bee

is this some type of Yellow Backed Bumble?
Location: Hawthorne, CA
July 18, 2011 5:27 pm
I can’t figure it out. You’re so great at helping me, I thought I’d send you yet another photo. It/they seem very attracted to the catmint plants that I’ve let bloom this summer, but until today have been to shy to get a shot of. We’ve had yellow faced bumbles and male and female carpenter bees this year, but I’m positive this is something different. Can you help?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon

sonoran bumblebee anna 300x206 Sonoran Bumble Bee

Sonoran Bumble Bee

Hi Anna,
According to Charles Hogue in his wonderful book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, there are four species of Bumble Bees in our area, and this is the Sonoran Bumble Bee, Bombus sonorus, a species not previously represented on our website, so we are very happy to get your photo.  You may verify our identification by comparing the photos on Bugguide.

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Posted 20 July 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

California Bumble Bee

Mt Washington, Los Angeles, California
April 2, 2011
Yesterday, while working in the yard, we saw a large Bumble Bee visiting the calla lilies.  By the time we returned with the camera, it was gone, but this morning, this lovely lady was spotted resting on the wisteria after a cool night.  We expect she will soon be busy gathering nectar and pollen to provision a nest.  We believe this is the California Bumble Bee, Bombus californicus, which Hogue, in his book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, describes as:  “yellow on abdominal segment 2 only;  the rest of the abdomen and face are black.”  BugGuide also has some nice images of the California Bumble Bee.  We have also seen Yellow Faced Bumble Bees in our Mt Washington, Los Angeles garden.

bumblebee 20110104 300x206 California Bumble Bee

California Bumble Bee

Posted 02 April 2011 § ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Bee Id Help
Location:  Gainsville, Ga
August 20, 2010 2:05 pm
Picture taken Gainsville Ga.
August 19, 2010.
Is this a bumblebee or carpenter bee?
Yellow color but shiny abdomen?
Thank you,
J Serences

common eastern bumblebee j 300x232 Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Hi J,
In our opinion, this is a Common Eastern Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens.  You can see BugGuide for additional information.

Posted 21 August 2010 § ‡ Comments (0) °

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