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Bumblebee Facts & Worksheets

The sole living group in the tribe Bombini, bumblebees are social insects that are residents in higher altitudes or latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.

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The sole living group in the tribe Bombini, bumblebees are social insects that are residents in higher altitudes or latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Known for their round bodies with soft hair, bumblebees play an important role in agricultural pollination.

See the fact file below for more information on the bumblebee or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Bumblebee worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

ETYMOLOGY AND TAXONOMY

  • The term “bumblebee” is a compound of “bumble”, which means to hum, buzz, drone, or to wander clumsily, and “bee”.
  • In 1802, French zoologist Pierre André Latreille proposed its generic name, Bombus, which originated from the Latin word for a buzzing or humming noise.
  • Based on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word “bumblebee” was initially documented as having been used in the English language in John Palsgrave’s 1530 work, L’esclarcissement. However, the OED also mentions that the term “humblebee” precedes it, having originally been used in 1450 in Fysshynge wyth Angie.
  • Its genus, the only living group in the tribe Bombini, consists of over 250 species with over 49 subgenera.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

  • Bumblebees vary in appearance, although they are commonly plump and densely furry. They are bigger, broader, and stouter-bodied with a more rounded abdomen tip compared to honeybees.
  • The majority of bumblebee species have broad marks of color, and different species are identified through varying patterns. They have fewer stripes (or none), and generally have portions of the body covered in black fur.
  • Some species have long tongues and collect nectar from flowers that are sealed into a tube.
  • The B. dahlbomii of Chile is recognized as the largest bumblebee species in the world, reaching up to about 40 mm long, and is described as a “flying mouse” and a “monstrous fluffy ginger beast”.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

  • Bumblebees fly in temperate climates, and are often spotted at higher altitudes and latitudes. A few species, like the B. polaris and B. alpinus, inhabit regions with very cold climates, such as the northern Ellesmere Island in the high Arctic.
  • They have a largely cosmopolitan distribution, with a range that extends across all or most of the world in suitable habitats, but are not present in Australia and in some parts of Africa.

BIOLOGY

  • Its tongue, the proboscis, is a long, hairy structure that stretches from a sheath-like modified maxilla. The bumblebee uses its tongue for lapping or repeated dipping into liquid, where the tip acts as a suction cup as it draws up nectar.
  • Its abdomen’s exoskeleton is split into plates called dorsal tergites and ventral sternites. Wax, which is secreted by the queen as she begins to build a nest and by young worker bumblebees, is emitted from glands on the abdomen and forced out between the sternites.
  • A group of vibrantly colored bumblebees is an aposematic warning signal, where females impose a harsh sting. Warning colors, ranging from pitch black to bright yellow, red, orange, white, and pink, depend on the species and morph.
  • Bumblebees are agile under conditions during which honeybees prefer to stay at home, and can easily take in heat from even weak sunshine.
  • The compact pile formed by long setae, or bristles, serves as insulation to keep them warm in cold weather; bumblebee species inhabiting cold climates have longer setae and thicker insulation compared to those from the tropics.
  • Studies cannot prove yet how well bumblebees hear, or if they are able to, given their lack of ears. However, they can easily feel vibrations created by sound travelling through wood or other materials.
  • Unlike honeybees, they do not display “bee dances” to let other workers know where the food sources are found. Instead, when they go back after foraging, they wander around in the nest for a number of minutes before heading out to find food once more. These bees may be offering some kind of communication according to the buzzing noises produced by their wings, which may provoke other bees to start foraging. The level of food reserves in a bee colony is also another stimulant to foraging activity.
  • The net size of bumblebees depends on the species. Most establish colonies of between 50 and 400 individuals, although some records show numbers as small as 20 individuals and as large as 1700. Compared to honeybee hives, their nests are small and are found underground, preferring old rodent burrows or sheltered places, staying away from areas that are exposed to direct sunlight. Other bumblebee species build their nests above ground, either in thick grass or in tree holes.
  • Unlike that of a honeybee, a bumblebee’s nest is not arranged in hexagonal combs. Instead, their cells are grouped untidily. Worker bumblebees get rid of dead bees or larvae from the nest and stash them outside the nest entrance in order to prevent diseases.
  • Bumblebees feed nectar to the larvae by chewing a little hole in the brood cell into which they would inject the nectar. Larvae eat pollen in one of two ways, depending on the species.
  • Pocket-making bumblebees build pockets of pollen at the bottom of the brood-cell clump from which the larvae feed themselves.
  • Pollen-storing bumblebees, on the other hand, store pollen in separate wax pots and feed it to the larvae.

POLLINATION

  • Bumblebees usually visit flowers that display bee pollination syndrome and these groups of flowers may be up to one to two kilometers away from their colony. They tend to drop by the same patches of flowers daily, as long as they continue to seep nectar and pollen there, a behavior known as pollinator or flower constancy.
  • They use a mix of color and spatial relationships to identify which flowers to forage from. They can also distinguish both the presence and the pattern of electric fields on flowers, which happen due to atmospheric electricity.
  • They can also identify the temperature of flowers, as well as which portions of the flower are hotter or cooler, and use this data to determine flowers.

CUCKOO BUMBLEBEES

  • Bumblebees classified under the subgenus Psithyrus, called ‘cuckoo bumblebees’ and initially recognized as a different genus, are brood parasites, often called kleptoparasites, in other bumblebee colonies, and have lost their ability to gather pollen.
  • Before spotting and invading a host colony, female cuckoo bumblebees feed directly from flowers. After penetrating the host colony, they kill or subdue the queen of that colony, and apply pheromones and physical attacks to force worker bumblebees of that colony to feed her and her babies.
  • Female cuckoo bumblebees exhibit different morphological adaptations for battle, such as larger mandibles, a tough cuticle, and a larger venom sac that gives her an advantage of taking over a nest.

PREDATORS, PARASITES, AND PATHOGENS

  • Bumblebees, despite being able to sting, are preyed upon by some predators. Their nests may be dug up by badgers and eaten whole. Adults are eaten by robber flies and beewolves in North America. In Europe, birds, such as bee-eaters and shrikes, round up adult bumblebees on the wing, while camouflaged crab spiders grab them as they visit flowers.
  • The great grey shrike can spot flying bumblebees up to 100 m away; once captured, the sting is pulled out by continuously squeezing the bumblebee with the mandibles and wiping the abdomen on a branch.
  • Bumblebees are also infested by parasites, such as tracheal mites and a number of protozoans.

Bumblebee Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Bumblebee across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Bumblebee worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the bumblebees which are social insects that are residents in higher altitudes or latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Known for their round bodies with soft hair, bumblebees play an important role in agricultural pollination.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Bumblebee Facts
  • Bzzt Bzzt
  • Bumblebee Anatomy
  • Male or Female?
  • Bee Life Story
  • Buzzworthy Facts
  • Bumble and Honey
  • Bumblebee Wiki
  • Bumblebee Family
  • Bumblebees Worldwide
  • Bee-hold!

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Link will appear as Bumblebee Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, February 5, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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