Moss bumblebee
| Moss bumblebee | ||||||||||||
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_muscorum_(Linnaeus,_1758).jpg)
Mooshummel box, somewhat faded collection copies |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bombus muscorum | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Mooshummel ( Bombus muscorum ) is a kind of the bumblebees ( Bombus ). The species is listed in Germany's Red List of Endangered Species as critically endangered (Category 2).
features
The animals reach a body length of 17 to 19 mm (queen), 10 to 16 mm (worker) or 13 to 15 mm (drone). Their wingspan is 32 to 35 mm (queen), 22 to 30 mm (worker) and 26 to 29 mm (drone). The animals are not variable in their conspicuous coloring. Your thorax is hairy yellow-orange to reddish-brown. One can confuse the species with the variable bumblebee ( Bombus humilis ) and the field bumblebee ( Bombus pascuorum ), but it lacks black hair on the thorax and the base of the wings. The collar and the scutellum are a little lighter haired. The abdomen is yellowish and sometimes has a honey-brown band on the second or third tergite . The last tergite is black in color and has shorter hairs than the variable bumblebee. Compared to the similar species, however, the hairiness of the Mooshummel is generally longer, denser and evenly long, especially on the thorax. The head of the bumblebees is medium in length, the proboscis is long and reaches a length of 13 to 15 mm (queen) or about 9 mm (drone).
Occurrence
The species occurs in much of Europe, but is very rare. It inhabits open, wetlands and marshland in the lowlands as well as moors near lakes and the sea coast. You can find queens looking for nests from early / mid-May to mid-June, workers from late May / early June to late September and young queens and drones from early / mid-August to late September.
Way of life
The Mooshummel builds nests and always builds their nests above ground in tufts of grass or under moss as well as in abandoned nests on trees, in nest boxes or on houses. They reach a population size of 50 to 120 animals. As pocket makers, they store pollen in pockets around the brood cells. The queen can be recognized by the high-pitched humming sound that is similar to that of the variable bumblebee.
The most important foliage plants include dead nettles , zieste , comfrey , thistles , knapweed , heather , meadow clover , white clover , sweet peas , black nettles and motherwort .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Eberhard von Hagen, Ambros Aichhorn: Hummeln. determine, settle, multiply, protect . Fauna-Verlag, Nottuln 2003, ISBN 3-935980-28-0 .
- ↑ Bombus muscorum in Fauna Europaea
literature
- Eberhard von Hagen, Ambros Aichhorn: Bumblebees. determine, settle, multiply, protect . Fauna-Verlag, Nottuln 2003, ISBN 3-935980-28-0 .
