Brown-belted Bumblebee?

I have to admit I struggle with bee identification, but this was identified on iNaturalist as a Brown-belted Bumblebee, so that's what I'll talk about. My Bumble Bees of North America book says:

Simple keys based on color patterns may appear easy to use and may work well on small local faunas, but they are unreliable for correct identification at the continent-wide level. Not only do bumble bee color patterns often vary a lot within species, but different species can also look similar to one another.

The book also states that a lot of important characteristics can only be seen with a microscope or a strong hand lens; the bees I meet generally tolerate my presence but are unlikely to agree to this sort of examination. We'll just have to trust that the iNaturalist identifier knows what they're doing. (I will say the identification sounds plausible.)

Despite the name, not all of these bumblebees have a brown band on their abdomens (AKA belts). And unlike with humans, having a brown belt does not signify a level of martial arts competency.

The Brown-belted Bumblebee is supposed to have suffered a decline in "the northeast", though that probably means northern New England rather than New Jersey. Overall it seems to be faring pretty well, with its population rising in some areas and its total population pretty stable, a somewhat rare thing to say with climate change and other forms of habitat loss, insecticides, and invasive insects hurting many of our pollinators.

May 18, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum
Photo 292813293, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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