The Bumble Bee Queen

Do Bumble Bees have a Queen? The simple answer is ´Yes´. The Bumble bee queen plays a crucial role in the survival of her colony, as she is responsible for laying the eggs that will become the next generation of workers. Unlike honeybees, without a queen, the bumblebee colony will die because only the queen…

Bumble Bee Drones

How to Identify a Bumble Bee Drone Bumble Bee Drones or male bumble bees have no stinger in contrast to female worker bees. They have longer antennae and a narrower abdomen than their female counterparts. In addition, they also have hairy hind legs without pollen baskets and are smaller than the queen but slightly larger…

Heath Bumblebee (Bombus jonellus)

The fairly small-sized Heath bumblebee (Bombus jonellus), also called small Heath bumble bee, is widespread in Europe, northern America, and northern Asia. It is more common north of 55ºN, and less widespread in southern latitudes. Although it falls into the white-tailed bumble bees category, in the Shetland and Western Isles male variations of this species…

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All about Bees Tongues

Bumble bees tongues (proboscis) fall into 2, sometimes 3 different categories depending on their length. As the name implies, long-tongued bees have a much longer proboscis than short-tongued bees. According to research, this is significant. Not only does it determine the manner in which bees feed and what they feed. It also has an environmental…

Bumble Bee Nesting Habits

Bumble bees nesting habits are essential to the environment, as without them there would be a decline in the pollination of plants and flowers. Without these pollinating insects, biodiversity would suffer significantly, leading to major ecosystem disruptions. Therefore it is important to protect bumble bees and their habitats in order to preserve both natural ecosystems…

Life Cycle of Bumble Bees

The life cycle of Bumble bees is different from that of honey bees and also differs slightly depending on the species. Most bumble bee species are social insects and create colonies with a single queen. However, their colonies are much smaller than honey bee colonies. They can be as small as 50 individual bees but…