2010 - International Year of Biodiversity

Happy New Year!  December finished with a flurry of activity, and I spent a fascinating day with Dr. Paul Williams of the Natural History Museum (and BBCT Trustee).  In the grounds of the museum, Buff-tailed Bumblebee workers were busy at the flowering Mahonia, while the nearby outdoor ice rink bustled, evoking fond memories of learning to skate on a frozen canal in Ottawa, and sampling 'beaver tails'!  I saw other Buff-tailed Bumblebees using winter heathers (collecting pollen) and winter jasmine elsewhere in London.  I wonder if any of these nests survived the hard weather?

 

Paul showed me specimens of a wide range of species, including the now official 'lectotype' of Great Yellow Bumblebee, originally described by Morawitz in 1869.  Although the pattern of Great Yellow Bumblebee is distinctive among UK bumblebees, there are perhaps 20 or 30 species worldwide that look very similar - these all seem to be associated with grasslands.  The helpful black band between the wings seems to be the commonest single feature among all bumblebees - but we don't know why!  Among European bumblebees, Great Yellow Bumblebee is most similar genetically to Short-haired Bumblebee.  However, the evidence suggests that it is actually more similar to two North American species, Bombus borealis and Bombus appositus. Great Yellow has a current range that is more extensive than Short-haired, found across Eurasia, even as far as the Aleutian Islands.  It is also a more northern species and it, or an ancestor, may have benefited from the land bridge that formerly existed between Asia and North America.

 

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/bombus/st.html

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/beringia2.html