Insects › Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, and Allies

Perplexing Bumble Bee

Bombus perplexus

Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in Alaska.January 233, February 172, March 270, April 424, May 612, June 667, July 714, August 614, September 451, October 336, November 184, December 144.
United States27,432
Canada6,269
Alaska4,820
New York4,387
Ontario2,098
Virginia1,869
Alberta1,498
Michigan1,373
Nunavut1,365
Pennsylvania1,137

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Behavioral

  • EusocialLives in colonies with division of labor and cooperative brood careFrom its classification

Physical

  • ExoskeletonHas a hard external skeletonFrom its classification

Practical

  • StingingCan deliver a painful stingFrom its classification

Group and habits

  • Animal pollinatorDescends from an animal lineage whose members commonly pollinate flowers.Inferred from its group

Classification

KingdomAnimals · Animalia
PhylumArthropods · Arthropoda
ClassInsects · Insecta
OrderAnts, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies · Hymenoptera
FamilyHoney Bees, Bumble Bees, and Allies · Apidae
GenusBumble Bees · Bombus

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Perplexing Bumble Bee with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.