A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus Bombus, part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera (e.g., Calyptapis) are known from fossils.

Mar 28, 2025 · bumblebee, (genus Bombus), genus of over 250 species of large bees. Bumblebees occur over much of the world but are most common in temperate climates. They are absent from most of Africa and the lowlands of India and have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand to aid in the pollination of various flowering plants.

May 20, 2021 · Unlike most native bees, but like honey bees, bumble bees are social insects that live in colonies. Bumble bees live in colonies of between 50 and 500 individuals. Photo by Elaine Evans. The vast majority of our native bees are solitary and don’t form hives or have queens.

Bumblebees are large, hairy bees and are close relatives of the well-known honeybee. Most species of bumblebee live in colonies, but their colonies are much smaller than the honey bees or wasps who can have up to several thousand individuals, the bumblebee colony will only consist of around 50 – 150 individuals.

Once thought to be among the most common and widespread bumble bee species in North America, the American bumble bee has experienced sharp declines in recent decades.

Apr 3, 2025 · To attract bumblebees and other native bee species, consider native plants —such as asters, coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), lupines, bee balm (Monarda spp.), and spring ephemerals. However, bumblebees are not fussy; anything …

The common eastern bumble bee is a pollinator of flowers and numerous fruit and vegetable crops, including tomatoes, blueberries, and cucumbers. Bumble bees have fur all over their bodies; these hairs collect and trap pollen, which the bees carry from one bloom to another.

Jul 11, 2023 · Bumblebees are important pollinators with over 250 species worldwide. They have a variety of habitats and can be found in many regions, except Antarctica and Australia. Bumblebees are categorized into three classes based on their tongue length, which hints at the types of flowers they visit.

Jul 3, 2022 · Bumblebees are found across a good portion of the Earth. They are most abundant in the northern hemisphere but span across the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia. There are at least 255 species of bumblebee, but it’s unclear where exactly they originate from. The most accepted theory is that they’re indigenous to North America.

The American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) By Kelly Rourke, Pollinator Partnership. There was a time when you could find this bumble bee across most of North America from Quebec to Florida, westward to South Dakota, then south into the central Mountains of Mexico. Within the past decade, though, its numbers have collapsed.