Short-haired Bumblebee

Bombus subterraneus

Summary 4

Bombus subterraneus, "short-haired bumblebee".
Body lengths (from different sources):
no information found yet.

Distribution: South Canterbury and north east Southland (ie an area above and below Dunedin across to the Southern Alps)

Thorax back to the wings is yellow. The hair is long.

In the NZGEO article of Oct-Dec 1994 the differences were described as "It is generally smaller than the three other species, and is nearly completely black." Which doesn't seem to correspond with other descriptions, but maybe the NZ variety is just a subset of the normal characteristics.

Some good photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/sets/72157631748253828/
See also https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/158880

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills
  2. (c) Biopix, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/PhotosMedium/JCS%20Bombus%20subterraneus%2045419.jpg
  3. (c) Martin Andersson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Vallhumla_Hane06178.jpg
  4. Adapted by Tony Wills from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_subterraneus

More Info

iNaturalist NZ Map

Subgenus Subterraneobombus