Bombus muscorum Linnaeus, 1758

Synonym: Bombus cognatus Stephens, 1846

Description. Medium proboscis. The head is ovoid. The sides of the clypeus are covered with sparse short yellow hairs. The forehead is covered in thick yellow hairs. The main body color is light. Sexual dimorphism in body color is not expressed. The upper surface of the chest is light yellow-brown or light brown; along the edges the color gradually becomes lighter and takes on a yellow or pale yellow color. The sides of the chest and the underside of the body are yellow. The abdomen is covered with hairs of the same color, which, however, form clearly visible stripes corresponding to the abdominal tergites. The color of the abdomen is somewhat lighter than the color of the chest; the darkest (light brown) hairs are located on the 2nd tergite. The lightest (light yellow) hairs are located on the 5th and 6th tergites and on the sides of the abdomen. Legs covered with light yellow hairs.

Females and workers. The head is slightly elongated, broadly rounded at the back of the head. The upper lip is rectangular, the mandibles are strongly curved, and overlap when approaching. The length of the proboscis is about 13 mm. The antennae are 12-segmented. The head, bottom, sides of the chest and abdomen are covered with light yellow hairs; on the top of the chest there is a darker yellow spot. The back is completely yellow or with a slight admixture of black hairs. Abdomen with 6 tergites. 2nd abdominal tergite in apical part with black or dark brown hairs, 3rd with only yellow hairs. Hind tibia with spurs, along the edges with long hairs forming a “basket”.

Legs covered with light yellow hairs. There is a sting.

Males. The head is triangular or almost rounded. The antennae are 13-segmented. The head, bottom and sides of the chest, back and abdomen are covered with light yellow hairs. The back is completely yellow or with a slight admixture of black hairs. Abdomen with 7 tergites. Tergite 3 covered with yellow or brownish-red hairs. There is no sting, but there are claw-shaped dark brown genitals.

Body length of females is 17-18, workers 10-16, males 14-15 mm. Distribution

. In Belarus it is distributed throughout the entire territory. Common in meadows along the river. Pripyat. It is not often found in the north of Belarus, but is rare in the center. Habitat

. Meadows, mainly floodplains, forest edges and vast clearings, orchards, clover agrocenoses.. Overwintered females appear at the end of April, and at the beginning of May they lay a nest in dry grass on the surface of the ground or in hummocks. Then the founder female prepares a substrate consisting of pollen and honey, on which she lays several eggs. The larvae that appear after 4 days first feed on the prepared provisions, and then the female systematically replenishes it. After 22-23 days from the moment of laying eggs, working individuals appear. From this moment on, the female only lays eggs, and the workers fly for a bribe, look after the queen and new brood, guard, clean and warm the nest. By the end of summer, the family numbers 50-100 individuals. By autumn, young large females and small males hatch, which soon die after mating. With the arrival of the first frost, the founder of the nest and the workers die. Young fertilized females fly away from the nest and overwinter under moss, grass or in rodent burrows.

Trophic connections. Diverse, but prefer plants from the legume, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae families. Pollinates red clover.

Red Book of the Republic of Belarus.

In the north, in places it is found in significant numbers, in the center. and south rare in parts of the country.

Moss bumblebee (Bombus muscorum F.)

(The story was written by Alekseev V.N.)

Moss bumblebee and Lesus bumblebee(it does not yet have a Russian name, like many other species) belong to the category of those cute bumblebees, the back of which is devoid of the usual bands for bumblebees and, like the abdomen, is covered with thick yellowish-green hairs. They are easy to recognize in nature, but only a specialist can distinguish them from each other: to do this, you need to measure the length of the cheeks of each specimen under high magnification.

Fortunately, these species are not now on the verge of extinction, although they are no longer found in some areas and have become extremely rare in others.

The moss bumblebee is found from the eastern to the western borders of our country, from Arkhangelsk in the north to Armenia and Tajikistan in the south. This species is an inhabitant of meadows, river floodplains, ravines, ravines, visiting more than 30 species of mainly Asteraceae and leguminous plants. Moss bumblebee nests are located on the surface of the ground under the cover of a bush, hummock or just thick grass. However, sometimes they are found 4-5 m above the ground or even inside birdhouses.

The Lesus bumblebee lives in the more southern steppe and forest-steppe regions of the European part of the USSR and Central Asia and is not found east of Altai; it also has ground nests.

Unlike bees, bumblebees make a nest for only one season. Over the course of several warm summer months, an entire bumblebee generation is born, develops, reaches its peak, and almost completely dies in such a nest. Only young female bumblebees go into hibernation. They will have to lay their nests next spring.

Those of you who were outside the city in the last days of April or May could probably see large, bass-humming bumblebees, seemingly flying aimlessly almost above the ground. There are no flowering plants nearby, and the bumblebee either circles in the air over some place, then drops to the ground or completely disappears from sight. These are the overwintered female bumblebees - the founding bumblebees. In some species they appear already at the end of April, in others - more thermophilic ones - only by the middle or even the end of May. But everyone has the same task - to find a place for a future nest. For this, some require a mouse hole with the remains of dry litter or grass, others need a hollow or crack under the fence, and for others, a hole in a meadow sown with clover or on the side of the road is enough.

One of the reasons why these two species are becoming increasingly rare is the location of their nests. Don't think that they are worse than other bumblebee "houses". All nests are equally good if humans do not interfere with the life of bumblebees. It is then that the advantages of some and the inconveniences of other dwellings begin to appear. Species that nest on the ground, including moss bumblebees and lesus bees, are immediately in the worst position. They suffer more than others from the use of fertilizers and pesticides on meadows. They are trampled by grazing or simply driven past cattle. But the worst thing for meadow residents is mowing. For them, this is the same disaster as clear-cutting for forest animals. And there is no mercy for anyone. All bumblebee families are immediately deprived of food for themselves and their larvae. And besides, in the nests of terrestrial species, everything suddenly turns upside down. In a bare meadow, the light and soil moisture instantly change. On the very first hot day, the nests are in danger of dying from overheating, and the very first thunderstorm can flood them with water.

The worst thing is that people don't even know what they've done. Well, who would think that under the even rows of mown grass, dozens of families, perhaps the most necessary insects for the meadow, were buried in one day? But a meadow is not a field; the grass on it grows from its own seeds. And therefore they are mowed only when the seeds are ripe and have fallen off. But how many seeds will be produced next year if the most valuable pollinators were destroyed by mowing?

It is, of course, impossible to stop mowing the meadows. As well as moving bumblebees from there. It turns out that their fate is predetermined? What if you still try to come up with something? Well, for example, let’s imagine a meadow on the eve of haymaking. Above the sea of ​​its various herbs, tall poles with bright rags and flags are visible. It was the local young people who marked the places where the bumblebees’ nests are located. They searched for them for a whole month, but now there is a prohibitory sign above each nest. Warned in advance, machine operators notice the poles from afar and carefully drive around them on their mowers, leaving an island of untouched grass around each. The losses from the loss of grass are minimal, and the benefits are incomparably greater.

Or maybe you can suggest some other way?

Moss bumblebee(lat. Bombus muscorum) - an insect of the family of true bees ( Apidae).

Description

In females and working individuals, the abdomen consists of 6 visible tergites, there is a sting and antennae consisting of 12 segments. Males have an abdomen of 7 tergites, no sting, and 13-segmented antennae. The species is distinguished by the uniform color of the back and abdomen. The back is covered with red or yellow hairs, and the abdomen is yellow.

Spreading

It is found locally in the Saratov Right Bank (Rtishchevsky, Khvalynsky, Bazarno-Karabulaksky, Baltaisky, Volsky and other areas).

Habitats and lifestyle

It lives mainly in the meadows of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. One of the most important pollinators of flowering plants. Bumblebees live in small families, with an average of 50-100 individuals. The family consists of three types of individuals: females, working bumblebees (immature females) and males. The life cycle is structured according to the following scheme: overwintered fertilized females in the spring (April-May) alone make a nest in which they lay eggs. The egg develops in about 4 days; adult bumblebees emerge from their pupae on the 21st-23rd day after laying eggs. In spring and summer, only working bumblebees are bred. The first bumblebees are raised by the female, collecting food on flowering plants and warming them with her warmth. Subsequently, worker bumblebees take care of the offspring, and the female continues to lay eggs. In late summer, young males and females hatch and emerge from the nest to feed on nectar and pollen. After fertilization of the females, the males die, the young females leave the nest and spend the winter alone. Bumblebees build a nest on the surface of the soil from moss and dry grass. They prefer to visit plants from the legume, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae families.

Limiting factors and status

The species is listed in the Red Book of the Saratov Region. Conservation status: 2 - rare, declining in number. The number of habitats continues to decline catastrophically due to intensive economic development of floodplains, plowing of meadows, uprooting of bushes, and the formation of reservoirs on former floodplain lands. Weather conditions also have a negative impact - drought or high humidity.

Literature

• Red Book of the Saratov Region: Mushrooms. Lichens. Plants. Animals / Committee for Environmental Protection and Nature Management Saratov. region - Saratov: Publishing House of the Saratov Chamber of Commerce and Industry. region, 2006. - P. 333-334

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Moss bumblebee a declining species, most of whose range is located on the territory of the USSR.

Brief description of the adult stage. In females and working individuals of all types of bumblebees, the abdomen consists of six visible tergites, there is a sting, and the antennae consist of 12 segments. Males have an abdomen of 7 tergites, there is no sting, but there are claw-shaped genitalia, by which the species differ from each other; The antennae of males are 13-segmented. It differs from other species of bumblebees in the uniform color of the back and abdomen: the back is covered with red or yellow hairs, and the abdomen is yellow. The legs may be covered with light yellow or dark brown and black hairs (in the subspecies bannites Skorikov). The length of the proboscis in working specimens averages 9.5 mm.

Spreading. European part, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Siberia, Far East. Outside the USSR - Türkiye, Northern Mongolia, Northeast China. It is rare in all parts of its range, especially in the European part - Moscow region. and Volga region.

Habitats. Meadows of forest and forest-steppe zones. In the Moscow region. found in meadows and along river banks, occasionally among sparse bushes. The number of habitats is decreasing due to intensive economic development of floodplains and the creation of reservoirs on the site of former floodplain lands.

Number and trend of its change. Route surveys in some areas of the Volga region showed that from the period 1959-1965. by 1973 the number had decreased by more than 3 times.

Main limiting factors. Adverse weather conditions: droughts or high humidity, changes in habitats under the influence of agriculture (plowing meadows, uprooting bushes, etc.).

Features of biology. There are 3 types of individuals in the bumblebee family: females, workers (immature females) and males. Bumblebees live in small families, numbering on average 50-100 individuals. Their life cycle is structured according to the following scheme. Of the females fertilized in the fall, very few overwinter, and in the spring they begin to build a nest alone (late April - late May). The egg develops in about 4 days, and adult bumblebees emerge from the cocoons on the 22nd - 23rd day after the female lays her eggs, while they gnaw through the tops of the cocoons (the pupae lie head up). The first batch of worker bumblebees is raised by the female, collecting food for them on flowering plants and warming them with her body. Subsequently, the workers take the main part in raising the offspring, and the female lays eggs. In spring and summer, only workers hatch, and there is only one female in the nest. At the end of summer, young males and females hatch. Males have a well-developed proboscis, can fly out of the nest and feed on flower nectar and pollen, pollinating plants. They do not collect pollen, since they do not have a collecting apparatus (in the form of baskets, brushes, combs, which are found in working individuals and females). Young females also fly out of the nest and feed on nectar and pollen. After fertilization of the females, the males die, and the young females leave the nest and spend the winter alone. An important factor in the life of bumblebees can be considered the amount of precipitation. Drought can not only shorten the lifespan of the bumblebee colony, but also cause their complete absence from local entomofaunas. This may also be responsible for the extremely early appearance of males. The amount of precipitation favorable for bumblebees is (for the period from May to August) about 80 mm, and the temperature of 25-26 degrees C as the monthly average of the hot months is the limit of their endurance. Daily activity outside the nest begins long before sunrise and reaches a maximum around 11 a.m.; from 12 to 14 o'clock most bumblebees are in their nests; from 2 p.m., departures from the nest become more frequent, reaching a maximum at approximately 6 p.m. Bumblebees build nests on the soil surface from moss and dry grass. This species prefers to visit plants of the legume, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and, to a lesser extent, Norica, Borage and Rosaceae families.

Breeding. The first attempts were made in Russia back in 1814. Bumblebee apiaries were described. Currently, breeding is not carried out in our country; However, experience in breeding bumblebees abroad is known.

Necessary security measures. In natural habitats, it is necessary to protect nests from damage during grazing and from destruction by people; Chemical treatments should be limited. The species can be protected in microreserves; new micro-reserves need to be created not only to preserve widespread species of bumblebees, but also to combine them with the range and habitats of rare, endangered and declining species.