- (Bombus), a genus of societies, a family of bees. (Apidae). Dl. up to 3.5 cm, body covered with dense long hairs forming red, black or white bands. OK. 300 species, widely distributed except Africa; in the USSR there are 125 species, ch. arr. in forests and mountains. Nests from... ... Biological encyclopedic Dictionary
Genus of social insects of the superfamily bees. Length up to 35 mm. About 300 species, widely distributed. The most important pollinators of plants, including forage crops. The numbers of many species are declining and are protected. * * * BUMBBEES BUMBBEES, genus... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
BUMBELES, a genus of social bees. Body pubescent, length up to 35 mm. About 300 species, widely distributed. Important pollinators of plants, including forage crops (especially red clover). A bumblebee nest is an irregular ball of grass, moss, twigs and... Modern encyclopedia
A genus of social insects of the superfamily bees. Length up to 35 mm. OK. 300 species, widely distributed. The most important pollinators of plants, including forage crops. The numbers of many species are declining, protected... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Noun, number of synonyms: 1 money (129) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary
BUMBEES- (Bombus), belonging to the order Hymenoptera of the bee superfamily, according to appearance many more bees. Bumblebees live mostly underground. Bumblebees (Bombus) Bumblebees (Bombus) are a genus of social bees in the family Apidae. Body length... ...Insect life
At the base of the Shmeli group from the city of Rovno, in Ukraine, stood Shmel and Lelya. From 1995 to 1999, Shmel and Lelya took part in various projects. Bumblebees have released 10 albums in Ukraine, all of them are different from each other. But basically they are kept in... Russian rock music. Small encyclopedia
- (Bombus) a genus of hymenoptera insects (Hymenoptera) from the bee family (Apidae, see); This genus belongs to the Bombini subfamily and is characterized the following signs. The eyes are bare; the eyes are almost in one straight line. Sh's body... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron
bumblebees- Bumblebee close-up. BUMBELES, a genus of social bees. Body pubescent, length up to 35 mm. About 300 species, widely distributed. Important pollinators of plants, including forage crops (especially red clover). Bumblebee nest is an irregular ball made of... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Bumblebees and termites, I. Khalifman. This edition includes two stories. They introduce the reader to the strange worlds of bumblebee nests and termite mounds, introduce the history of the study of the most interesting insects living here, talk about...
Just like hard-working bees, bumblebees collect honey to feed their offspring. Since they live only one summer, they do not store for the winter. Only queens that wake up with the onset of spring can survive the winter. Where do bumblebees live, what do they eat and what do these insects look like?
Description of bumblebee
The insect belongs to the representatives of arthropods, a subclass of winged bees, of the family of true bees. They are very close to bees in many ways. There are about 300 species of bumblebees in the world.
More than 80 species are distributed throughout the world, with the exception of Australia. The insects got their name because of the characteristic sound they make during flight.
The body of this insect is much larger than that of a bee. Body size reach up to 2.5 cm, and there are larger specimens depending on the species. The insect's body is covered with thick hairs. Most species have a dark back with stripes that come in two colors:
- orange;
- red.
Individuals of a rarer color are also rarely found - pure black. The thick body of the insect has a smooth black sting at the end and has no serrations. The body of a bumblebee is equipped with two transparent wings. The insect's eyes are almost in one straight line. The hind tibia are equipped with spurs.
Males have small antennae and are larger than workers. Males are endowed copulation mites, which is an important feature for distinguishing species. These insects powerful jaws capable of easily chewing plant foods. They are also intended for the construction of honeycombs. Insects bite for protection.
Larger than male queens, equipped with a sting, which is endowed with working females. Queens have a collecting apparatus consisting of a basket and a brush. There are also small queens, which are considered intermediate between queens and workers.
Habitat
Where do bumblebees live? This question is not difficult to answer, since they live everywhere. Insects are endowed with the ability to maintain temperature.
Them characterized by cold resistance. This allows them to live even in northern regions, including in the far North.
Insects were able to penetrate the following areas:
- Greenland.
- Alaska.
- Chukotka.
- New land.
However, this feature does not allow them to be in the tropics. For this reason, only two species live in the Brazilian tropics. Insects feel great in different areas forests, fields, mountains. Asia is considered the homeland of bumblebees. There they live in many areas. They came to Australia much later and live in only one state.
Lifestyle
They build their nests on leaf litter, in the ground, tree hollows, bird nests, as well as in burrows of rodents and small animals. Each individual family consists of 200–300 individuals. It includes queens that lay eggs, working bumblebees that get food and build nests.
There are also males in the family who fertilize queens. There is always a trumpeter in the family, who is the first to wake up and fly out of the nest. The trumpeter bumblebee makes a special hiss and thus awakens the whole family. If there is no queen in the family, working females can perform her duties.
Ability to survive in any climatic conditions associated with the special thermoregulation of insects. They can live peacefully in cold countries, however, hot climate they don't like. Bumblebees are capable maintain body temperature up to 40 °C that exceed the temperature environment.
Yes, this happens due to the rapid muscle contractions in the thoracic region, and without moving the wings. Such contractions result in loud buzzing sounds produced by the insects. Bumblebees warm up when they start buzzing or humming. When the insect stops moving, its body gradually cools down.
Feeding and reproduction of bumblebees
These insects feed on any nectar. The process of eating occurs throughout the day. Be sure to set aside time to bring food for the queens. Bumblebees have no preference bright colors, so they sit not only on flowers, but also on trees to drink juice.
In the process of collecting nectar, they disperse seeds. Favorite treat for bumblebees is clover. Clover is dispersed by bumblebees, as their seeds are dispersed while they collect nectar.
Reproduction in this insect species egg laying occurs. Queen queens deal with this difficult task in the family. They survive in winter and with the onset of warmth, the fertilized female flies out of the shelter. The female begins to actively feed, looking for a suitable place for nesting.
For pollination she never flies. Working bumblebees build honeycombs in their nests, and females can only decorate them with wax and nectar. After this, the bumblebees begin laying eggs. The queens must monitor the process of hatching the larvae. The whole family is engaged in delivering food to the nest. When the larvae become mature, the female stops caring for the larvae.
Old females are replaced by young ones, and almost all of the old ones die within a month. There are a few females left, and fertilized ones at that. They can safely overwinter in order to build a nest again in the spring, lay eggs and have new family. Bumblebees have only 4 stages of development egg, larva, pupa, imago. The final stage is the transformation into an adult.
As the larvae grow, the cell walls gradually expand and increase in size. Working individuals with a female are engaged in repairing cells and putting things in order in the nest. Abandoned cells are used to store food, since they are not used twice to hatch larvae.
The name of our today's hero - the bumblebee - came about thanks to the sounds that it usually makes during the flight, such buzzing, wheezing, from them came the ancient Russian word “chmel”, which over time transformed into the familiar modern “bumblebee”. By the way, the name of another well-known flyer was formed in a similar way -. But back to the bumblebees, saying scientific language, bumblebee is arthropod insects and belongs to the subclass of winged insects, the true family, the genus of bumblebees proper (Bombus in Latin).
Bumblebee - description, structure, characteristics. What does a bumblebee look like?
Bumblebees are very large and bright insects, and interestingly, the female bumblebee is larger than the male (which, however, is not such a rarity in the world of insects). Typically, the body length of a female bumblebee is from 13 to 28 mm, a male - from 7 to 24 mm. But some types of bumblebees, such as the steppe bumblebee, can reach large sizes, even up to 35 mm in length. The weight of a bumblebee, if it is a queen, can reach up to 0.85 g, but working individuals will be lighter - from 0.04 to 0.6 g.
Interesting fact - despite the absolute little weight, bumblebees are quite strong insects and can carry a load equal to their own weight.
The body of a bumblebee is thick and heavy, as for an insect, of course. The wings of a bumblebee are small, transparent and consist of two halves that move synchronously. The flapping speed of a bumblebee's wing is 400 beats per second. And the flight speed of a bumblebee can reach 3-4 meters per second.
The female bumblebee's head is somewhat elongated, while the male's is triangular in shape, with a noticeable dotted line on the crown and front part.
Bumblebees also have powerful mandibles, which they use to chew through plant fibers and to create honeycombs. They also serve the bumblebee for protection.
The eyes of a bumblebee are located in a straight line, they are not covered with villi. The antennae of males are longer than those of females.
An important organ of bumblebees is a special proboscis, which they use to collect nectar. The length of the proboscis depends on the type of bumblebee and varies from 7 to 19 mm.
There is also a sting in the abdomen of bumblebees, but only in females; the male does not have a sting, and in place of the sting there are dark brown genitals. The sting of a bumblebee is smooth, without serrations and invisible in calm state. So, when bitten, the female bumblebee pulls the sting back and can sting repeatedly, like wasps and unlike bees, which die after being bitten.
Bumblebees also have as many as six legs, while the female has a special “basket” for collecting pollen on the outer surface of her hind legs.
The color of the bumblebee is usually striped, black and yellow with white, orange and even red flowers. Sometimes there are completely black bumblebees. Scientists believe that the color of the bumblebee was created for a reason, but is associated with the balance and thermoregulation of the insect’s body.
What do bumblebees eat?
Bumblebees collect pollen and nectar from many plants. But to feed their larvae they use not only nectar, but homemade honey. Bumblebee honey is thinner than that of bees, lighter in color and not as sweet and fragrant.
Where do bumblebees live in nature?
Bumblebees live almost everywhere, on all continents, with the exception of cold Antarctica. They are especially common in temperate latitudes, but there are individual species bumblebees living even beyond the Arctic Circle, in the tundra. Bumblebees are a frequent visitor in mountainous regions, but closer to the equator, in the tropics, there are not so many bumblebees; for example, only two species of bumblebees live in the Amazon forests. Also at the beginning of the twentieth century, some species of garden bumblebees from Europe were brought to Australia and New Zealand, where they live to this day.
In general, bumblebees are the most cold-resistant members of the bee family. Despite the fact that they do not like the hot tropics very much, all this is due to the peculiarity of their thermoregulation, the fact is that normal temperature The body temperature of a bumblebee can reach 40 degrees Celsius, exceeding the ambient temperature by 20-30 degrees. This increase in temperature is associated with fast contraction the bumblebee's chest muscles, this same contraction is the source of his signature buzz.
bumblebee nest
Bumblebee nests can be underground, on the ground, or above the ground; let’s look at them in more detail.
Bumblebee nests underground
Many species of bumblebees build their nests underground, sometimes even nesting in the burrows of various rodents. Interestingly, the smell of mice attracts female bumblebees. Also in the mouse hole there is a lot of useful material for insulating a bumblebee nest: wool, dry grass, etc.
Bumblebees nests on the ground
Some types of bumblebees, for example, Schrenk's bumblebee, forest and field bumblebees, build their nests on the ground: in the grass, under plants, even in abandoned bird nests.
Bumblebee nests above the ground
Some types of bumblebees prefer to make their nests above the ground: in tree hollows and birdhouses.
The shape of underground and above-ground nests can be different and depends on the cavity used by bumblebees. The nests are insulated with dry grass, moss, and reinforced with wax secreted by bumblebees using special abdominal glands. From this wax, bumblebees build a wax dome that prevents the penetration of moisture; it also masks the entrance to the nest to protect against the invasion of uninvited guests.
Life of bumblebees in nature
Bumblebees, like other insects of the bee family, are social creatures and live in families consisting of:
- large queens.
- smaller female bumblebee workers.
- male bumblebees.
The queen is responsible for reproduction, although in her absence, female workers can also lay eggs. The bumblebee family is not as large as the bee family, but still numbers 100-200, and sometimes as many as 500 individuals. Life cycle The bumblebee family usually lasts from spring to autumn, after which the family breaks up, some of the females go to winter in order to begin a new life cycle in the spring.
In the bumblebee family, each has its own specific responsibilities: working bumblebees get food, feed the larvae, arrange and protect the nest. At the same time, among working bumblebees there is also a division of labor, so larger representatives fly for food, and smaller ones feed the larvae.
The function of males is simple and clear - fertilization of females. The queen of the bumblebee, she is also the female founder of the family, lays eggs, feeds the larvae, and generally takes care of the offspring.
How do bumblebees reproduce?
Bumblebee reproduction has four stages:
- Egg.
- Larva.
- Doll.
- Imago (aka adult).
With the beginning of spring, the queen, which has overwintered and is fertilized in the fall, flies out of her shelter and within several weeks is actively preparing for nesting. Having found a suitable place for the nest, the queen begins construction. In a newly built nest, the queen lays 8-16 eggs, which have an elongated shape.
After 3-6 days, bumblebee larvae appear, they grow quickly, feeding on food brought by the female.
After 10-19 days, bumblebee larvae begin to weave a cocoon and pupate. After another 10-18 days, young bumblebees begin to emerge from the cocoons, gnawing at them. By the way, later empty cocoons can be used to store honey or pollen. After the appearance of the first offspring, 20-30 days after the eggs were laid, the queen almost never leaves the nest. The responsibilities for obtaining food are taken over by its first children - working individuals who also perform all other important functions.
As for born males, 3-5 days after formation into an adult, they leave parental nests in search of other nests and other queens with whom they are in the fall, in mating season bumblebees will begin to mate.
How long does a bumblebee live?
The life of bumblebees is short and depends on the place of the bumblebee in the bumblebee society, where a working bumblebee lives on average about two weeks. Male bumblebees live for about a month and die soon after mating, the foundress female lives the longest, females born in the spring die in the fall, and those born in the fall and surviving the winter can even live a whole year - until the next autumn.
Which bumblebees do not build nests and do not collect nectar?
Types of bumblebees, photos and names
In nature, there are about 300 varieties of bumblebees; of course, we will not describe them all, but we will describe the most interesting representatives of the bumblebee world, in our opinion.
It is also known as Bombus pratorum in Latin and lives almost throughout Europe, as well as in Asia (Kazakhstan, the Asian part of the Russian Federation, the taiga, the Urals, and Siberia). It is small in size: females reach 15-17 mm in length, working individuals 9-14 mm. The head is dark, and behind it is a bright yellow collar. They are interesting because it is the bumblebees of this species that are the first to fly out of wintering in the spring. They nest on the surface of the ground or in bushes.
This bumblebee lives throughout Eurasia, from Ireland in the West to Sakhalin in the East. A very small representative, the female’s body length is 10-22 mm, workers’ body length is 9-15 mm. It is distinguished by a red breast, and on the abdomen it has a black band and a white tip.
Is quite major representative bumblebee family, the body length of females reaches 32-35 mm. Has almost square cheeks. The color of the steppe bumblebee is paleish-grayish-yellow with a black band between the wings. This bumblebee lives in Eastern Europe, including in Ukraine, Asia Minor, Northern Iran, Transcaucasia. The steppe bumblebee prefers flat, foothill and mountain steppes. It makes nests in rodent burrows in the ground. Listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.
This bumblebee is distinguished by its elongated proboscis, as well as its elongated body and love of warmth. Distributed in Eurasia, from Great Britain to the Urals. The yellow color of this bumblebee is duller than that of other bumblebee species. It has average sizes: females reach 19-22 mm, working individuals 11-18 mm. Interestingly, the underground bumblebee was one of four species of bumblebees brought from England to New Zealand for the purpose of pollinating the local clover. As its name suggests, it makes nests underground.
Lives over a wide range: Eurasia, almost everywhere except the polar regions. Dimensions reach 18-22 mm, working individuals 10-15 mm. It has a bright yellow-golden color and an orange back. Builds ground-type nests.
This bumblebee is distinguished by a back with a reddish-black band and a black upper chest. Females reach 19-23 mm in length, working individuals 11-17 mm. They live in Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa. Interestingly, at the end of the twentieth century, a method for industrial breeding of this type of bumblebee was developed. The fact is that the ground bumblebee brings considerable benefits, helping to pollinate various crops (including tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries).
A rare representative of the bumblebee kingdom, in many countries, including in Ukraine, it is listed in the Red Book. Lives in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The body length of this bumblebee is 21-32 mm. It has brown wings and elongated cheeks.
A small representative of the bumblebee kingdom, with a slightly duller coloration than other bumblebees. Loves warmth, lives in dry meadows of forest-steppes. It builds nests on the surface of the ground from grass and moss, however, sometimes using heated rodent burrows as nests.
Just like the underground bumblebee, it was once brought by the British to New Zealand, where it lives to this day. And besides this, you can meet the garden bumblebee across a wide range from England to Siberia. The uterus is 18-24 mm in length, workers are 11-16 mm. This shemale's breast yellow color with a black stripe between the wings. He is also the owner of a very long proboscis and nests underground, in old holes left by rodents.
It lives in western Europe and is listed in the Red Book. It is black in color with two yellow stripes.
Bumblebee bite and its consequences
In general, the bumblebee is a peace-loving insect; it never attacks itself, and can only bite in defense. However, the bumblebee's sting is weak and harmless; it is not a hornet. The sting does not remain in the body, the bumblebee takes it back, but the poison released from the sting during a bite can cause unpleasant sensations: itching, pain, redness, swelling, in the worst case they can last for several days. But this is also in rare cases, since for the majority healthy people bumblebee venom is not dangerous.
What to do at home if bitten by a bumblebee
Of course, it is best to simply prevent a bumblebee from being bitten; to do this, you just need to not try to pick up a bumblebee, but in nature, make sure you don’t accidentally land on a bumblebee with your “soft spot.” But if a bumblebee bite does occur, then first aid should be as follows:
- The bitten area should be disinfected with an antiseptic or soap and water.
- Apply a cold compress to the bitten area.
- Do not drink alcohol under any circumstances after being bitten.
- Itching, if present, can be relieved with an antihistamine: suprastin, claritin, zyrtec, etc.
Why are bumblebees useful?
As we wrote above, bumblebees are very skilled pollinators of many agricultural plants, sometimes cross-pollinating five times faster than bees.
Enemies of bumblebees
The big enemies of bumblebees are ants that steal honey from the female and steal the eggs and larvae of bumblebees. To protect themselves from ants, bumblebees build their nests above the ground, away from anthills.
Another enemies of bumblebees are wasps and conopid flies, which also steal bumblebee honey and eating brood. Some birds, such as the golden bee-eater, eat bumblebees by pecking them.
- Bumblebee farming is an important industry agriculture, bumblebee breeding is actively practiced to increase crop yields.
- Previously, it was believed that, according to the laws of aerodynamics, a bumblebee was simply not capable of flying and its flights, seemingly contrary to the laws of physics, surprised scientists. However, one Zheng Jane Wang, a physicist from Cornell University in the USA, was able to explain the mechanism of bumblebee flight to the principles of aerodynamics.
- In the morning hours, a curious character appears in the bumblebee nest, the so-called trumpeter bumblebee, buzzing loudly. Previously it was believed that in this way he raises his relatives to work. But later it turned out that in such a simple way (with the help of work pectoral muscles) this bumblebee simply warms up in the pre-dawn, coldest hours.
The Secret Life of Bumblebees Video
And in conclusion, an informative video about bumblebees.
Bumblebees are quite large, beautiful, brightly colored insects. Females are larger than males. On average, the body length of a female is from 13 to 28 mm, the size of a male bumblebee varies from 7 to 24 mm. Some species, such as the steppe bumblebee (lat. Bombus fragrans), grow up to 35 mm in length. The weight of a bumblebee uterus can reach 0.85 g, while working individuals weigh from 0.04 to 0.6 g. Moreover, insects can carry an amount of pollen equal to their own weight.
The bumblebee's body is thick and heavy. The wings of an insect are relatively small, transparent, consisting of two halves moving synchronously. A bumblebee flaps its wings at a speed of about 400 beats per second. The trajectory of each wing resembles an oval that moves at a large angle. With each flap, the bumblebee's wings turn over, taking a slightly different position: when the wing goes down, it top part directed upwards, and vice versa. The bumblebee's speed reaches 3-4.5 meters per second (10.8-16.2 km/h).
The female's head is slightly elongated, broadly rounded at the back. In the male it is triangular or almost round, with a clearly visible dotted line on the crown and front part.
Bumblebees have powerful jaws-mandibles that overlap when approaching, which are used for gnawing plant fibers and forming honeycombs. The insect can bite, using its jaws for defense.
The eyes of a bumblebee are bare, not covered with villi, and located in a straight line. The antennae of males are longer than those of females.
Bumblebees have a proboscis with which they collect nectar. U different types it has different lengths: for example, in the small ground bumblebee (Latin Bombus lucorum) its length is 7-10 mm, and in the garden bumblebee (Latin Bombus hortorum) it is 18-19 mm. This size of the proboscis allows bumblebees to obtain nectar from flowers with a deep corolla, such as clover flowers.
The abdomen of bumblebees is not tucked towards the apex. At the end of the abdomen, females have a sting. The male does not have a sting; in its place are dark brown, highly chitinized genitalia. In a calm state, the bumblebee's sting is not visible. It is hollow inside and, unlike bees, smooth, without jagged edges. When bitten, the female bumblebee pierces skin enemy, releases a drop of poison and pulls the sting back. Thus, a bumblebee can sting repeatedly and without harm to itself. In this case, the bee’s sting remains in the body of the bitten person, and the bee itself dies.
Bumblebees have 6 legs. On the smooth outer surface of the hind tibia, the female has a “basket” for collecting pollen - an area surrounded by hard, straight hairs. In the male, the hind tibiae are usually widened at the apex, and, depending on the species, their outer surface is more or less densely pubescent and convex.
The hairs that cover the body of a bumblebee are black, white, yellow, orange, reddish or grey colour. The color of the insect is usually striped. It is rare to see completely black bumblebees. It is believed that coloration is directly related to the balance between camouflage and body thermoregulation. Each type of bumblebee has its own, strictly defined coloring, by which it is easy to distinguish.
Bumblebees belong to the Bee family, the genus Hymenoptera. On Latin Bumblebees are called Bombus. Today, more than 80 species of bumblebees are known.
Description of bumblebees
A characteristic feature of a bumblebee is a thick body with thick, long hairs. On hind legs they have spurs. Bumblebees have naked eyes, they are located almost in a straight line.
The queen and working individuals have a collecting apparatus formed from a basket and a brush. Males can be distinguished by their long antennae, which are longer than those of working individuals; in addition, they have copulation mites.
The queens are larger than the males and have stings, like worker bumblebees, which are underdeveloped females. Many species still have small uteri.
Bumblebee lifestyle
Polymorphism is not expressed very actively, their division of labor is not so clearly organized, and their instincts are less stable in comparison with bees.
Bumblebees often make their nests in mouse or mole holes.
The life of bumblebees depends on the nest, honeycombs and queen. Bumblebee nests have the type of oval irregular cells. Cells are made of coarse reddish or brown wax. Cells are placed in the ground, under moss or stones.
As a rule, only the first cells are constructed from wax, and the rest are empty cocoons of pupae. The pupae are filled with flower dust and rough honey.
Bumblebee breeding
Throughout almost the entire summer, queens lay eggs. Workers emerge from unfertilized eggs first, and then queens. Several eggs are laid in each cell. The larvae develop in 10-12 days. After this, they weave cocoons in which they transform into pupae. This period takes about 2 weeks.
Sometimes the larvae that emerge from the eggs die from lack of food.
Small queens and workers are engaged in building the nest, collecting honey and laying unfertilized eggs, from which exclusively males develop.
The queens emerge from the last eggs laid by the queen. These queens are fertilized by males. The old queens die, and the bumblebee community, consisting of about 500 individuals, disperses, leaving only the queen for the winter.
Types of bumblebees
Various types of bumblebees live in different parts Sveta. You can't find bumblebees only in Australia. The most common ones are the following types European bumblebees:
The ground bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) has a black body color. The anterior part of the chest in this species and the bands on the abdomen have yellow hairs, and the three outer parts of the abdomen have white hairs.
The color of working queens and males is practically the same, but the size differs: the length of males does not exceed 22 millimeters, and the length of females reaches 26 millimeters, while working individuals are about 19 millimeters in length. Ground bumblebees live in North Africa and Europe. They build their nests on the ground.
The rock bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) also has a black body color, but the three posterior segments of the abdomen are bright red. Males are distinguished by the fact that they have yellow hairs on their head and chest. The length of stone bumblebees varies from 18 to 20 millimeters. This is a fairly common species of European bumblebees. They build their nests between rocks.
Why do bumblebees bury themselves in the ground before dying?
Bumblebees on flowers can be in danger. Female wasps use bumblebees as a food source for their offspring. The wasp flies up to the bumblebee, sits on top of it, sticks its sharp ovipositor, and lays several dozen eggs inside the body.
The larvae, hatched from the eggs, begin to feed on their prey from the inside. The little killers secrete special substances that force the bumblebee to burrow into the ground before dying.
Underground, the bumblebee stays fresh longer. In the body of a dead bumblebee, the ichneumon larvae will have to spend the entire winter, and in the spring they turn into adults.
Are bumblebees dangerous for people?
Workers and queens sting. The sting of a bumblebee, unlike a bee's, is not serrated, so bumblebees can use their weapons repeatedly without harming themselves.
These are not aggressive insects; they bite only if they are harmed, as well as when protecting the nest.
An acute itchy pain occurs at the site of the bite, and swelling often develops. The affected area becomes as if “stone”. If a person is allergic to bee stings and the temperature rises, headache, vomiting occurs, and convulsions may occur.
The danger is that it may develop anaphylactic shock which ends fatal.
The role of bumblebees in the pollination process
Bumblebees are excellent pollinators. They are especially valuable because they are one of the most cold-resistant insects; they can even live in harsh northern conditions. But other pollinators live very short lives in the cold, or cannot exist at all. Bumblebees can be found in Greenland, New Zealand, Chukotka and Alaska. In addition, they climb high into the mountains and pollinate plants near the eternal snow.
Don't kill bumblebees, they only sting out of self-defense. If on garden plot If there are bumblebees, then it will always bloom and bear fruit until the cold weather.
Why do bumblebees buzz?
Why are bumblebees so cold-resistant? It turns out that their body temperature exceeds the air temperature by 20-30 degrees, and on average is 40 degrees. This effect is achieved thanks to the work of the pectoral muscles.
It is during work that bumblebees emit a characteristic hum. When a bumblebee stops buzzing, its body temperature drops, but as soon as the insect begins to rapidly contract its muscles, without even moving its wings, its temperature rises.
When all the bumblebees in the nest begin to hum, the temperature in it reaches 30-35 degrees.
In the cool morning hours, a humming sound can always be heard from bumblebee nests. Previously it was believed that among bumblebees there are special trumpeters, which can become workers or small queens. These trumpeters climb to the top of the nest early in the morning and make special sounds; most likely, they do this with the help of vibrations of their wings.
The whole bumblebee family wakes up to these sounds. And these are just bumblebees warming up. On hot days, bumblebees, like their fellow bees, ventilate their nests by flapping their wings in front of the entrance.
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