BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Bombus terricola
Yellow-banded Bumble Bee
| Scientific Name: | Bombus terricola Kirby, 1837 | ||||||||||
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| Scientific Name Synonyms: |
Bombus (Bombus) terricola
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| English Name: | Yellow-banded Bumble Bee | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Thorp, R. W., and M. D. Shepherd. 2005. Profile: Subgenus Bombus. In Shepherd, M. D., D. M. Vaughan, and S. H. Black (Eds). Red List of Pollinator Insects of North America. CD-ROM Version 1 (May 2005). Portland, OR: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Invertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | HY-BOMTRR | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G3G4 (Apr 2018) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S3S4 (Dec 2016) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Blue | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | Special Concern (May 2015) | ||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | 1 - Special Concern (Jun 2018) | ||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | |||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | It nests underground; males patrol circuits in search of mates. It is a known host to the cuckoo bumble bee Bombus bohemicus, and a probable host to B. suckleyi and B. insularis (Williams et al. 2014). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / N N / N N / N na / N |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: |
It is found close to or within wooded areas and wetlands (Williams et al. 2014). Many terrestrial habitat-checkoffs are based on an analysis of occurrence data and land-cover data by Chesshire et al. (2023). |
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| Food Habits: | |||||||||||
| Global Food Habits Comments: | A short-tongued species; food plants include Crocus, Eupatorium, Linaria, Melilotus, Monarda, Ribes, Rosa, Rubus, Spiraea, Taraxacum, Vaccinium and Vicia. It is a frequent nectar robber of long-corolla flowers (Williams et al. 2014). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | Y | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | / / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | |||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | This species ranges throughout much of the northern and mountain forests of North America, from the taiga of Labrador south through the higher elevations of the Appalachians to Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, and in the west from the Northwest Territories south through central British Columbia to the mountains of northern Utah (Williams et al. 2012). There has long been confusion over distinctions between this species and B. occidentalis, and historic records in the range of the latter species should be verified. The historical range extent of this species is estimated at 11,057,049 kmē, and the extent of current (2008-2017) observations is 8,221,015 kmē. Controlling for larger historical sample size, the range of this species has declined by an estimated 24%. |
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| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
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| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Chesshire, P. R., E. E. Fischer, N. J. Dowdy, T. L. Griswold, A. C. Hughes, M. C. Orr, J. S. Ascher et al. 2023. Completeness analysis for over 3000 United States bee species identifies persistent data gap. Ecography: e06584. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Bombus terricola. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jul 1, 2025).