Short-haired bumblebee
Lund, Sweden, 2022
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Subgenus: Subterraneobombus
Species:
B. subterraneus
Binomial name
Bombus subterraneus

The short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), or short-haired humble-bee, is a species of bumblebee found in Eurasia, as well as in New Zealand, where it is an introduced species.[2]

It lived in the British Isles among other parts of Europe. This species became extinct in the British Isles in 1989. The cause of its sudden extinction is debated, but many scientists believe that it was due to a lack of genetic diversity.

Introduction and reintroduction

The short-haired bumblebee was one of four species of bumblebee introduced into New Zealand from the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1906 for pollination of red clover. In New Zealand, it is the rarest of the four species, with small numbers at a few locations in inland South Island.[3] The last recorded sighting in the United Kingdom was in 1988 and was considered to be extirpated from there until re-introduced.[4] A programme was started in 2009 to reintroduce it to the United Kingdom with queen bees from New Zealand. The programme was run by Natural England, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and bee and wasp charity Hymettus.[5][6] However, this was not a success, as many of the queens died during hibernation. DNA analysis of the New Zealand bees showed they lacked genetic diversity. In 2012, a second attempt was made to reintroduce the short-haired bumblebee using queens from Skåne province of southern Sweden.[7][8][9] By the summer of 2013, workers of the species were found within 5 kilometres of the reintroduction site, showing that nesting had been successful.[10] The project continued collecting bumblebee queens from Skåne until the spring of 2016, to get a genetic span.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Bombus subterraneus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. ↑ Williams, Paul H.; An Jiandong; Huang Jiaxing (2011). "The bumblebees of the subgenus Subterraneobombus: integrating evidence from morphology and DNA barcodes" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 163: 813. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00729.x.
  3. ↑ MacFarlane, R.P.; Gurr, L. 1995. Distribution of bumble bees in New Zealand. New Zealand Entomologist 18: 29-36.
  4. ↑ Stewart, Lucy C.; Hale, Roddy J.; Hale, Marie L. (2009). "Species-specific primers for the molecular identification of cryptic Bombus species in New Zealand". Conservation Genetics. 11 (3): 1207. doi:10.1007/s10592-009-9920-2.
  5. ↑ Gibson, Eloise (2 June 2009). "British make beeline for South Island". New Zealand Herald. p. A5. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  6. ↑ O'Connell, Sanjida (7 September 2009). "'Extinct' British subject repatriated after 100 years". New Scientist.
  7. ↑ Kasprzak, Emma (5 May 2012) How UK's humble bee project led to Swedish outrage BBC News England, Accessed 28 May 2012
  8. ↑ Morelle, Rebecca (28 May 2012) 'Extinct' short-haired bumblebee returns to UK BBC News, Science and the Environment, Accessed 28 May 2012
  9. ↑ Kennedy, Maev (27 May 2012) Bumblebee lost to UK makes comeback on Dungeness shingle The Guardian, Accessed 28 May 2012
  10. ↑ "The Short-haired bumblebee reintroduction". Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "Skånska humlor till England en sista gång". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2018-04-17.
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