The half-black bumblebee (''Bombus vagans'') is a small bumblebee with a wide distribution in North America, its range extending from Ontario to Nova Scotia and southward to Georgia.

Description

''Bombus vagans'' is a common species of bumblebee with a medium-length tongue. The head, thorax and first two segments of the abdomen are yellow while the rest of the abdomen is black. The face has a mixture of yellow and black hairs and the thorax is densely clad in shaggy yellow hair except for a smooth central portion which is bare and shiny. The first two abdominal segments bear yellow hairs and the remainder of the abdomen is clad in black hairs. The underside of this bee and the legs are black. Similar species with which it can be confused include ''

Bombus sandersoni ''Bombus sandersoni'' is a species of bumblebee known commonly as the Sanderson bumblebee.Hatfield, R., et al. 2015''Bombus sandersoni''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 March 2016.NatureServe. 2015''Bombus sandersoni''.N ...

'' (which is slightly smaller), ''

Bombus perplexus ''Bombus perplexus'' is a species of bumblebee known by the common name confusing bumblebee.Hatfield, R., et al. 2014''Bombus perplexus''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 09 March 2016.NatureServe. 2015''Bombus perplexus''.N ...

'', ''Bombus impatiens'' and ''

Bombus affinis ''Bombus affinis'', commonly known as the rusty patched bumble bee, is a species of bumblebee endemic to North America. Its historical range in North America has been throughout the east and upper Midwest of the United States, north to Ontario, ...

''.

Behavior

This bee comes out from

hibernation Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is mos ...

quite late in the year with the first queens being seen in early May in Maine, and workers being on the wing from June to August. but in more southerly locations it may be seen a month earlier than this. The queen favors apple and plum blossom while the workers appreciate

red clover ''Trifolium pratense'' (from Latin prātum, meaning meadow), red clover, is a herbaceous plant, herbaceous species of flowering plant in the bean family, Fabaceae. It is native to the Old World, but planted and naturalised in many other regions ...

, ''

Penstemon ''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 280 species of flowering plants native to North America from northern Canada to Central America. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. As well as bein ...

'', ''

Asclepias ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to huma ...

'' (milkweed), ''

Cirsium ''Cirsium'' is a genus of Perennial plant, perennial and Biennial plant, biennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known commonly as thistles. They are more precisely known as plume thistles. These differ from other thist ...

'' (thistle), ''

Eupatorium ''Eupatorium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing from 36 to 60 species depending on the classification system. Most are Herbaceous plant, herbaceous perennial plant, perennials growing to tall. A few are shrubs ...

'' and ''

Spiraea ''Spiraea'' , sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species

'' (meadowsweet). Unlike most other species of bumblebee in the region, it forages in shady forest habitats. Drones are often to be seen late in the season on aster and

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genu ...

. Nests are usually on the surface of the ground or in holes in the ground and at its peak, the colony may have about seventy workers. The nest is sometimes parasitized by the

cuckoo bumblebee Cuckoo bumblebees are members of the subgenus ''Psithyrus'' in the bumblebee genus ''Bombus''. Until the 1990s, ''Psithyrus'' was considered to constitute a separate genus.Williams, P.H. 1994. Phylogenetic relationships among bumblebees (''Bombu ...

'' Bombus citrinus''. The parasitic protozoon ''

Apicystis bombi ''Apicystis bombi'' is a species of parasitic alveolates in the phylum Apicomplexa. It infects bees, especially bumblebees. It is believed to have a cosmopolitan distribution in bumblebees and a sporadic occurrence in honey bees, and causes dise ...

'' sometimes parasitizes this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2795860 Bumblebees Insects described in 1854 Hymenoptera of North America Insects of the Arctic