Tag: bombus

The Beautiful but Grumpy, Bombus lapidarius

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Number three of the four Bumble bees is Bombus lapidarius, the (other) Red Tailed Bumble Bee, or the Stone Bumble Bee after its name “lapidarius”. Called this because of its liking for making nests under stones or in stone walls.
The one I have sketched is the female, all black with the beautiful flame red tail. Below is the male with similar colouring, but with a yellow band on the thorax and a tuft of yellow hair on the face.

Bombus lapidarius male

Photo of Small male Bombus lapidarius by Nigel Jones for BWARS ( Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society) here.

The facts CLASS: Insecta
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus lapidarius
Lengths: Queen 20-22mm, Workers 11-16mm, Male 14-16mm.

These beautiful bees are common in Europe, I saw two while I was at home in Lincolnshire in September. They make a slightly later appearance than some other Bumble Bees. and form colonies of up to 200. They are busy active creatures, visiting many different species of flowers but seem to particularly like clover and dead nettle and they apparently like an easy landing, so will also choose daisies, dandelions and thistles.

A Bad Tempered Bee

Bombus Lapidarius has a short fuse. They are known to “buzz” you menacingly if you disturb or threaten them. Bad behaviour, in the old days, was punished with deportation but it was in spite of this grumpy nature, that worthy Victorian, Thomas Belt, advocated these bees be shipped out to New Zealand to help with pollinating clover.
Thomas Belt was an extraordinary man.
This is the Thomas Belt who “discovered” the complicated relationship between the Bulls Horn Acacia and ants. (see my earlier blog entries for info about him and the twiggy home of my beloved, now long gone “Ant” here)

The following from 1897 edition of the wonderfully named “Science Gossip” demonstrates how his early childhood toughened him up for his astonishing life as mining engineer and naturalist..

I know nothing more interesting to a naturalist when he wishes to rest from more serious study than to devote a few hours on a summer’s day to watching the humble bees at work amongst the flowers.
They have been favourites of mine from early childhood, one of my first experiments being the determination of the stinging powers of the three species, and the time they might be kept between the hollow of the two hands before they got sufficiently angry to sting.

My recollection is that Bombus lapidarius, although it has the longest proboscis, has also the shortest temper and most virulent venom, and if it be not set free as soon as its first angry note is heard, it will not fail to punish severely.
Notwithstanding this trait in its character, I have no hesitation in recommending that it is the one that should be sent out to New Zealand, and that Bombus terrestris should not be.—Thomas Belt, the Cedars, Ealing.

I will explain why he does not recommend B terrestris in the next post…
But, forgive them their occasional fit of pique, grow some of their favourite plants… or rather go easy on the weeding in your garden, as weeds seem to be their flower of choice.

What could be nicer than to have these strikingly beautiful bees gracing your flower beds and what a good excuse for that neglected patch… just don’t upset them!
I have spent hours pondering this handsome bee. Its beauty is in its dense blackness, contrasted with its flame red tail. The body tends to be naturally very curved which means that seen from above its head is almost always invisible, but it does have the appealing chubby bumble bee look.

lap sketch sm

However in the end I decided on more of a side view which shows off the beautiful tail and some head features, while retaining the really furry nature of the pile…. It’s always such a compromise..

Some final pencil sketches ..

 

lapidarius sketch sm

Finished one soon …

Bee No 2: Tricoloured Bumble Bee: Bombus ternarius

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This is the most delightfully pretty bumble bee and chosen purely because of its lovely markings, with a cream heart on its thorax and brilliant red/orange bands.
They look a bit like little fuzzy bottle brushes. The “ternarius” in its name refers to the three abdominal colours of red yellow and black.
They are also called the Red tailed Bumble Bee, and the Orange Belted Bumble Bee.

The facts;

CLASS: Insecta
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus ternarius

They are also sometime classified in the subgenus .. Pyrobombus.. I would like to think because of their fiery colour.
This is a small northern USA Bumble Bee, a worker just 8-13 mm, which according to the books, range from the Yukon to Nova Scotia, and south to Georgia, they are widespread but rarely observed south of Pennsylvania.

They like the flowers from the Rubus family: i.e. blackberries and raspberries, and the Vaccinium family; i.e. blueberry bilberry and huckleberry and are partial to Goldenrod too.

Orange-belted bumble bee, Bombus ternarius from University of Maine

“The orange-belted bumble bee queen emerges from hibernation in early spring. She must satisfy two immediate needs. She must nourish herself on flower nectar and pollen, and she must find a good place to raise a family. Queens spend hour upon hour cruising just above the ground looking for a suitable nest site underground, often settling in an abandoned mouse burrow.”

However, Linda Robb’s bees found themselves higher class accommodation by moving into her bird house. I have seen a couple of other references to Bumble Bees taking over bird boxes. What a nice idea.

redtailed_bumbles_birdhouse

This lovely photo of the Bombus ternarius colony by Linda is from her WhatsthatBug.com,entry, read more here….

This little bee just had to be drawn from above to show off its markings. Its “pile” is shorter than Bee No1 and these are chubby, neat little bees. Some initial sketches, to look at the colouring and the pose.

Bombus tricolour pencil sketch sm     tricol sketch sm

And the final painting…

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Bee number 2: The Tricoloured Bumble Bee, Bombus ternarious.

 

Bombus Ternarius bee 2 sm

Bee No 1: The Garden Bumble Bee, Bombus hortorum.

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More about my bee from the UK and the first of my 16 subjects, which travelled back in my pencil case and survived almost intact. These are the much loved, archetypal stripy bees which we see in the UK , the ones which usually spring to mind when thinking about a picture book idea of a Bumble Bee.

There are 3 very similar bumble bees, the B. hortorum, B. lucorum the white tailed Bumble Bee and B. terrestris the buff tailed Bumble Bee.

3 bees

From the British Beekeepers’ Association site, is part of Gillian Lye’s nice explanatory guide, from a UK bumble bee nest survey.
See more here The facts:

CLASS: Insecta or Hexapoda. Insects, as the name hexapoda suggests, animals that have six legs
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus hortorum

The Garden Bee, sometimes delightfully classified as “Megabombus” is a European bee and described as “rather scruffy” with quite long hair. It has a long head and the longest tongue of all European Bumble Bees allowing it to reach those parts of flowers which other bees cannot reach.
It likes red clover, cowslips, foxglove, vetches and lavender.
My information comes from the really excellent and readable BumbleBee.org. http://www.bumblebee.org/hort.htm which I quoted from in an earlier post.

Here is another snippet

(Bombus Hortorum).. “have a reputation for nesting in “unsuitable” places such as coat pockets, buckets and inside lawnmowers, their preferred nest sites are usually on or just below ground. They are fairly placid bees and do not have large nests, so if it is possible, it is best to leave them where they are. If you must move the nest, for example, if it is inside a lawnmower, then do so late in the evening when all the bees have returned. Get as much of the nest material as you can into a small box with an entrance hole of about 1 cm and leave it inside as close to the original spot as possible. If it is inside a shed or building then any kind of container will do. If it has to be moved outdoors then the container must be weatherproof and placed in a south-facing sheltered spot.”

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Bee number 1. The Garden Bee Bombus hortorum Some final sketches for the pose,

bee sketches final hortorus sm

A Forlorn and Balding Bee

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I have made some studies of the little bee that came back from the UK with me.

I had found it in the potting shed.

The first bumble bee I drew back in May came from the same place. The potting shed is an ancient wooden lean to, which leans against an even more ancient dry-stone wall. Perhaps these bumble bees both had nests nearby.

The first one I am sure was Bombus terrestris, the Buff Tailed Bumble Bee.
This one is Bombus hortorus, the Garden Bumble Bee. It had lost a few bits and pieces on the way, one antenna and a foot and looks little forlorn and disheveled but now, at least, is “immortalised”.

Its front legs are very close to its head, so in this sketch you cannot see the mouth or the length of the face properly.

my little bee sm

For this sketch I had tried to alter the front leg but only the bottom part moved upwards.

forlorn beesm

By this next study the other front leg had collapsed. My bee is now taking a bow to you all.
The head is way out of sight, tucked right underneath the body. I noticed that from this angle that you can see the shine of the bee’s hard thorax through the black hairs. I have just read this from the excellent site Bumblebee.org here.

“I have noticed that hortorum tend to have more balding workers than other species. This may be because they specialize in the more complicated flowers, often disappearing entirely within the flower, and rubbing their back against the flower. Or it may be that they rub against things more when entering their nest. Or perhaps they are just prone to premature baldness! “

 

my bee front sm

I am trying not to get too involved….but, thank you little balding bee for aiding me in my quest to understand more.

Drawing Bumble Bees

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No 1 bee of the 16 bees will be a Bumble Bee. However, deciding how to draw a Bumble Bee is not as simple as it might seem. If you draw them from the top to show the lovely markings you will not see their heads or tails because, they, more than any other bees, have a very curved shape. Seen from the side you will see just how long their bodies are, and see more of the head.

They also have big long legs!What to do? Well as I am planning to include 4 bumble bees in the set, I will paint a mixture of views, having looked at each and thought about their best feature.
In some I will have to sacrifice the head for the pattern, its a hard choice.But firstly some more studies, to try to understand more about bee anatomy.

drawings sm1      drawings sm3

Then some general sketches which are done from the little bee I brought back from the UK and some photographic references.

bee sketches sm

Tomorrow some more studies of my bee, which is Bombus hortorum the Garden Bumble Bee.