''Bombus magnus'' is a species of

bumblebee 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 taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

. It is native to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

.Rasmont, P., et al. 2015
''Bombus magnus''.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 08 March 2016. It is known by the common name northern white-tailed bumblebee.

Systematics

This species is very similar to the

white-tailed bumblebee ''Bombus lucorum'', the white-tailed bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee, widespread and common throughout Europe. This name has been widely used for a range of nearly identical-looking or cryptic species of bumblebees. In 1983, Scholl and Obre ...

(''B. lucorum''), the

buff-tailed bumblebee ''Bombus terrestris'', the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee, is one of the most numerous bumblebee species in Europe. It is one of the main species used in greenhouse pollination, and so can be found in many countries and areas wher ...

(''B. terrestris''), and the cryptic bumblebee (''B. cryptarum''). They are difficult to identify, even by experts, and several methods have been used to differentiate them. Computer software has been used to identify patterns.Arbuckle, T., et al. (2001)
Biodiversity informatics in action: identification and monitoring of bee species using ABIS.
In: Proc. 15th Int. Symp. Informatics for Environmental Protection (Vol. 1, pp. 425-430). A diagnostic feature of species is the sensillum placodeum on the antennae.Richerson, J.V., Borden, J.H., Hollingdale, J. (1972). Morphology of a unique sensillum placodeum on the antennae of ''Coiliodes brunneri'' (Hymenoptera:Braconidae). ''Canadian Journal of Zoology''. 50(7):909-913. With respect to the sensillum, if there is a different morphology, then it is likely that these two or more species are different from one another based on phylogenetic speciation. Another problem is discerning a difference between species. “Cryptic species are those that satisfy an accepted concept of species, but which are closely similar or identical in morphology.”Williams, P. H., et al. (2012)
Unveiling cryptic species of the bumblebee subgenus ''Bombus'' ''s. str.'' worldwide with COI barcodes (Hymenoptera: Apidae).
Systematics and Biodiversity'' 10(1) 21-56. Many times, a specimen will be classified a member of a species based on its similarities to another member of that species. In the case of ''B. magnus'', several taxonomists have argued that it is part of a long-ignored species, or really part of another species and was misidentified. Several species in the subgenus ''Bombus'' may actually be

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

es. ''B. magnus'', ''B. lucorum'', and ''B. cryptarum'' are referred to as the "white-tailed bumblebee complex".Bumblebee Maths.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. 22 November 2013. Another method of species identification is to compare the labial gland secretions of the males. The secretions of ''B. magnus'' and the

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

''B. cryptarum'' both contain ethyl dodecanoate, suggesting they may be closely related.Bertsch, A., & Schweer, H. (2012)
Male labial gland secretions as species recognition signals in species of ''Bombus''.
''Biochemical Systematics and Ecology'', 40, 103-111. Certain

restriction fragment length polymorphism In molecular biology, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) is a technique that exploits variations in homologous DNA sequences, known as polymorphisms, populations, or species or to pinpoint the locations of genes within a sequence. T ...

s (RFLP) in the

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

of ''B. magnus'' and its close relatives have been analyzed, revealing unique patterns that differentiate them from each other.Murray, T. E., et al. (2008)
Cryptic species in a widespread bumble bee complex revealed using mitochondrial DNA RFLPs.
''Conservation Genetics'' 9 653-666.

Habitat

This species occurs in many types of habitat, especially upland

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

Conservation

This species is expected to be impacted by

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

Systematics

Habitat

Conservation

See also

References

Further reading