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Characteristics

Length: Queen 0.82–0.90 in (21–23 mm); worker and male 0.39–0.75 in (10–19 mm).

Flight season: April–September.

Nectar sources: Very varied.

Habitat: Meadows, farmland, parks, gardens.

A frequent visitor to coneflowers, milkweeds, clovers, vetches, peas, and beans, the North American brown-belted bumblebee is a generalist forager. Common east of the Rockies, its range also extends to Oregon and northern California. It can thrive anywhere there are flowers—even in the middle of the largest cities. A male was once seen 102 floors up on the Empire State Building in New York. The brownbelted bumblebee emerges later and becomes inactive later in the year than its eastern bumblebee counterpart. Its head and thorax are mostly black, with some yellow hairs, and the abdomen is yellow, banded black. Workers usually have a brown “belt” around the abdomen.

Brown-belted bumblebees live in relatively small colonies, usually with fewer than 50 workers. As with other eusocial bees, there is a clear division of labour within the colony, with the queen laying the eggs and the workers doing most of the chores. Unusually, however, the males—whose primary function is to mate with young queens—help incubate the pupae.