Bombus huntii

Bombus huntii is a species of bumblebee. It is native to western North America, where it occurs in western Canada and the United States as far east as Manitoba and Minnesota, and in Mexico as far south as the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.[1] It is known commonly as the Hunt bumblebee[1] or Hunt's bumblebee.[2]

Bombus huntii

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Subgenus: Pyrobombus
Species:
B. huntii
Binomial name
Bombus huntii
Greene, 1860

This bee lives in desert scrub, prairies, and meadows. In the southern part of its range in Mexico it lives in pine ecosystems and it can be found at high elevations, such as the tops of tall volcanoes. The bee is active in summer and fall, and in southern areas it flies throughout much of the year. It nests underground.[1]

Food plants visited by this species include rabbitbrush, thistles, sunflowers, penstemons, phacelias, currants, rudbeckias, and clovers.[1]

This species has experienced declines, but it is still one of the more common bees of western North America.[1]

This bumblebee is susceptible to certain viruses that infect honey bees, such as Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV)[3] and Deformed Wing Virus (DWV).[4]

Experiments suggest that this and other native species make efficient pollinators of crop plants such as tomatoes, and that commercial rearing would be a viable alternative to introducing non-native bees for the purpose.[5]

References
  1. Hatfield, R., et al. 2015. Bombus huntii. This bee has also been seen in Vermont as of May 3, 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 07 March 2016.
  2. NatureServe. 2015. Bombus huntii. NatureServe Explorer Version 7.1. Accessed 7 March 2016.
  3. Peng, W., et al. (2011). Host range expansion of honey bee Black Queen Cell Virus in the bumble bee, Bombus huntii. Apidologie, 42, 650-658.
  4. Li, J., et al. (2011). Cross-species infection of deformed wing virus poses a new threat to pollinator conservation. Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine Journal of Economic Entomology, 104(3), 732-739.
  5. Strange, J. P. (2015). Bombus huntii, Bombus impatiens, and Bombus vosnesenskii (Hymenoptera: Apidae) pollinate greenhouse-grown tomatoes in western North America. Journal of Economic Entomology, 108(3), 873-879.

Further reading
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