Insects › Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, and Allies

Black-tailed Bumble Bee

Bombus melanopygus

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 California.January 1,408, February 1,219, March 1,900, April 3,142, May 2,066, June 1,125, July 963, August 981, September 1,245, October 1,272, November 1,635, December 1,261.
United States21,625
California13,204
Canada6,344
British Columbia5,937
Washington4,580
Oregon2,669
Alberta1,761
Nevada1,190
Colorado866
Idaho848

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