A North American bee, the common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) that competes with native bees and birds for nectar, and benefits weeds by pollinating their flowers.
The queen is an especially long-looking bee. Photo: Jacy Lucier | CC BY-SA 4.0
Identification
Bumblebees at flowers are easy to distinguish from honeybees because they are plump and furry and usually larger. The only native bees to look much like them are carpenter bees, which are big but far less furry and have different colour patterns. Tasmania has a concerning species of introduced bumblebee (the large earth bumblebee) with different colours from this one.
The thorax is pale yellow or straw-coloured. The first segment of the abdomen matches the thorax in colour, while the rest of the abdomen (on the upper side) is covered in neat black fur.
Photo: Ryan Hodnett | CC BY-SA 4.0
Size
Workers are 8.5–18 millimetres long, and queens can be 23 millimetres long.
(Honeybees workers are 11.5-13 millimetres long.)
Similar species
Carpenter bees (Xylocopa aruana and X. lieftincki) are so big and furry they are sometimes confused with bumblebees. The females have a bright yellow or golden thorax, and abdomens that look shiny because these are largely bare of hairs. The entire abdomen is black. They are 13-18 millimetres long. The males are yellowy-brown or olive all over, with no black on the abdomen.
Carpenter bee (X. lieftincki) Ken Walker, Museum Victoria
The large earth bumblebee (B. terrestris), found in Tasmania, has broad bands in three colours: black, yellow (or ochre) and white. If you see one of these outside Tasmania you should report it (see our page on this bee).
Large earth bumblebee. Photo: Alvesgaspar | CC BY-SA 3.0
The teddy bear bee (Amegilla bombiformis) is plump and furry, but is brown rather than black and yellow.
Teddy bear bee. Photo: Louise Docker | CC BY 2.0
Behaviour and Location
Bumblebees visit flowers of garden plants, weeds, and native plants. If one is seen briefly, others may be seen by monitoring the same flowers. They nest in burrows in the ground and may be seen entering or leaving these.
This species can be found from Canada south to Miami in Florida, implying that it could survive across must of Australia, south of the tropics.
Safe collecting
Because bumblebees return to clumps of flowers, it is often possible to obtain photos by waiting beside these once a bee has been spotted. One can be collected with a net, or by lowering a jar or plastic bag over it while it is busy at a flower.
Bumblebees can sting multiple times so be careful. A bee that has been caught can be killed by placing it in the freezer and then photographed when it has thawed.
Who to tell
Think you’ve found common eastern bumblebees?
If you find them phone 1800 900 090 and ask for the office of Australia’s Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer. If you do not receive a satisfactory response within a week email us via our contact form. Please do not contact us in the first instance.
The problem
Common eastern bumblebees were imported to British Columbia in Canada in the early 2000s for greenhouse pollination, and by 2003 they were established in the wild, and they keep spreading. At one site of investigation they were found to be more common than all the native bees. The concern for Australia is the prospect of this bee displacing native pollinating animals, including bees, butterflies, other insects and birds. Tasmania now has large earth bumblebees from Europe competing for nectar with critically endangered swift parrots. They are also worsening some weed problems by serving as a superior pollinator, and this bumblebee could do that as well. Common eastern bumblebees are favoured pollinators of greenhouse crops, and the risk is real is that a horticulturist will smuggle queens into Australia.
Further Information
- Invasive Species Council: Fact sheet.
- Biodiversity Data Journal: First records of the common eastern bumblebee, Canada.
