Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bumblebees of New Zealand)

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Bombus terrestris

Summary ⁵

Bombus terrestris, "buff-tailed bumblebee" or "large earth bumblebee".
(If all originally imported from Britain, then they will be Bombus terrestris ssp. audax)

Body lengths (from different sources):
Queen 20–27mm, worker 15–20mm
Queen 20-22mm, worker 11-17mm, male 14-16mm.
Tongue length 8.2mm (avg)

Distribution: Sub-alpine regions of both islands.

Workers have white-ended abdomens with a hint of buff at the margin between white and black. Usually a darker yellow than other bumblebee species.
Queens have the buff-white abdomen tip.
(Buff colour)

Large and common in early spring (although the queen raised first brood may be small)..

Field identification ⁶

Short broad face, relatively short tongue
Queens and workers may bite holes in the sides of flowers to reach nectar (not done by other NZ species)
Nest underground.
They prefer flowers that face upwards, or are horizontal if there is a choice, rather than downward hanging flowers.

Sources and Credits

(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills
(c) Maurice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Maurice
(c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/11443991853/
(c) R. Ridgway, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buff_after_R._Ridgway.jpg
Adapted by Tony Wills from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_terrestris
(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

iNat Map

Subgenus	Bombus sensu stricto

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