Bumblebees are a genus of Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera) of the bee family. Only about 300 of their species are known in the world.
Species of the genus Bombus, of which more than 80, are common in almost all parts of the world, except Australia.
Where do bumblebees live and how do they create families? Answers to these questions will be given in the article.
Habitat
Where do bumblebees live? It’s easier to say where they don’t live. The ability to maintain high body temperature allowed these insects to inhabit far to the north. Bumblebees penetrate to Greenland, Chukotka, Novaya Zemlya and Alaska. What is the reason for the cold resistance of these insects? Their body is characterized by the ability of thermoregulation.
And at the same time, such a feature of them does not allow them to get along in the tropics. Bumblebees live in North America, Northern Eurasia and in the mountains. Only two species of bumblebee are found in the tropics of Brazil.
Brief description of insects
Bumblebees (earthen bees) belong to the Apidae family, as are ordinary honey bees.
In its lifestyle and body structure, this large insect is close to bees. True, lifestyle and nests are different.
Males, unlike females, have long antennae, they are also larger than working bumblebees and have copulation mites.
Their body is large, reaches a length of 3.5 cm, rather densely covered with hairs. The color combines black, red, white and yellow stripes.
The lower, white part of the body ends with a small, inconspicuous in the normal state, sting. Hind tibia have spurs.
The eyes of the bumblebee are located almost in one line.
Both the uterus and the working individuals have a collective apparatus. It consists of a brush and a basket.
The uterus is larger in size than males and has a sting, as well as workers (females are underdeveloped).
Bumblebees are more benevolent insects, sting very rarely, compared with bees. Little is known about the chemical composition of bumblebee venom. It is not well understood.
Lifestyle, behavior
I wonder where the bumblebees live? Bumblebees, like other insects, are active almost all summer time, but this period is different for all species. It depends on their habitat (in high or low latitudes).
A characteristic feature of bumblebees that distinguishes them from other pollinators (wasps and bees) is that they are able to work in the cold (collect nectar), at temperatures up to 0 ° C. In this regard, they go further than other pollinators to the north.
Those species that live far in the north, with a short one-month summer, do not have time to start a family and live as single insects.
In temperate climates, the created family lives one summer. In tropical areas, some species are organized by perennial families.
And where do bumblebees live in winter? During this period, they live in underground shelters.
Fertilized uterus hibernate for the most part in dug holes in the ground, and in the spring they build nests.
How and where do bumblebees nest and live? These insects have an amazing rare feature. Unlike other similar insects, all bumblebee larvae develop and feed in one common chamber. In free cells, the female creates stocks of honey and bee bread (honey dough) for a period of bad weather.
Features of public life
Like bees, bumblebees are social insects. They organize huge families of up to 200 individuals.
In such communities where bumblebees live, there is a surprisingly clear distribution of responsibilities for absolutely each of its members.
Under natural conditions, the female, as a rule, lays 200-400 eggs for the breeding of working individuals, then she begins to lay eggs, from which the females and males develop.
Many species have the so-called small uterus (this is the average between the uterus and the working individuals). The latter, together with workers and small queens, build nests, collect honey and pollen (food) and lay unfertilized eggs, from which only males develop. And from the most recent eggs laid by the uterus, new uterus are hatched, which, in turn, are fertilized by males.
Only the old uterus remains for the winter, as the old ones die, males, working individuals and small uterus also die. The whole community is scattered.
What is a bumblebee nest? Where do bumblebees live?
Fertilized uterus, as mentioned above, mostly winter in dug holes in the ground, and only in the spring, during the thaw, begin to build their nests. This dwelling is an irregular oval cell formed from a coarse reddish or brown wax. The nest is placed between the stones, in the ground under the moss, etc.
Often, bumblebees use mole or mouse burrows.
Usually, only the very first cells of the nest consist of wax, and then emptied cocoons of pupae serve as the next cells. All cells are also filled with coarse honey and flower dust.
Usually in bumblebee nests up to 200 individuals, less often - up to 500. True, people in artificial nests with the presence of heating managed to get families with up to 1000 individuals.
The process of reproduction, nutrition
For almost the entire summer period, the uterus lays its fertilized eggs. Subsequently, workers, and then small uterus, come out of them. Usually, in each cell where bumblebees live, several eggs are laid. Some larvae emerging from eggs die due to lack of food.
Full development of the larvae occurs within about 12 days. Then they themselves spin cocoons, where they turn into pupae. This period lasts about 2 weeks.
Larvae gradually increase and expand the cell as they grow. And the female and working individuals are constantly putting in order, repairing and repairing the dwelling. After 30 days, the working individuals are hatched in the nest.
Since the release of the first workers, the number of people living in the nest has been growing rapidly. And food supplies are growing, abandoned empty cells are used to store them. And this is one of the features of the life of bumblebees. They never reuse the cell twice for hatchery. Therefore, old nests always have a rather messy look. On such dilapidated cells, insects build new ones, not observing any order.
Insects feed on plant nectar. To do this, they collect it from blooming flowers of various kinds.
In conclusion, a little interesting about bumblebees
• Often on hot days, a bumblebee can be seen at the entrance to a nest fluttering with wings. In this way, he ventilates the nest.
• “Wool” helps the bumblebee to warm up - it prevents heat loss and reduces them by half.
• Bumblebee is capable of speeds in flight up to 18 km / h.
• Bumblebee venom, unlike bee venom, does not harm a person, since this insect does not leave a sting in the skin of a person. But it can sting many times.
• There is an industry called bumblebee farming - the cultivation of bumblebees for agricultural purposes (pollination of various crops in order to increase their productivity).