24 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017
f the 46 bumblebee species
found in North America,
20 have been recorded
in Nebraska. Nebraska's
bumblebee diversity is largely
due to the wide variety of habitat types
found within the state and its location
at the intersection between eastern
and western ecosystems. Because we
still have huge swaths of relatively
intact prairie, our state may provide
strongholds for bumblebees that are
experiencing declines elsewhere.
That's good news for bumblebees,
but also good news for Nebraska
since bumblebees are among the most
fascinating and valuable pollinators.
Eggs to Queens
Like honeybees, bumblebees are
eusocial. Eusocial animals live in
groups, care for young cooperatively,
and divide up roles. Unlike honeybees,
which are perennial and founded by
swarms, bumblebee colonies are annual,
and founded by a single solitary queen.
As the colony matures, female worker
bees do all of the foraging and care for
the queen and her offspring, and males
are produced later in the season to mate
with reproductive females who will go
off to start new colonies.
Each spring, mated females (queens)
emerge from their winter shelter
and seek out locations to found new
colonies. The majority of bumblebee
nests are in abandoned small mammal
burrows, but others can be found
aboveground in hollow trees or stumps,
hay stacks, and other habitat with
cavities or that they can easily burrow
into. Competition for nesting sites can
be intense, and bumblebee queens
frequently kill each other in order to
secure prime locations. Once a nest
site is located and the queen modifies
it to her liking (often constructing wax
"pots" and filling them with regurgitated
nectar to get her through cold, rainy
spring weather), she starts collecting
pollen and nectar and begins laying
eggs. She raises the first generation
BUMBLEBEES
Fuzzy Friends of Flowers
Story and photos by Chris Helzer
O
Pictured are common eastern bumblebees mating. The large female will overwinter
after mating and attempt to start her own colony in the spring.
