Golden Northern Bumblebee and Unusual Pollen Basket

I got 2 confirmations on this ID so I think we can be fairly confident that this is a Golden Northern Bumblebee. (It does have a prominent black band on its thorax and an especially yellow abdomen like any good Golden Northern Bumblebee.)

Despite the "northern" part of its name, it can occasionally be found in places like Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia. The name isn't entirely inappropriate though, since it does sound like they're more common in the northeast than down south.

Each spring the queens emerge from hibernation and feed on nectar/pollen until they're strong/healthy enough to start a colony. They'll each build a nest and lay 8-10 eggs for whom she provides honey. When these bees grow up, they take over the foraging and the care of the next generation of eggs the queen lays; at this point the queen's responsibilities shift from being a do-everything mom to mostly being the egg-layer.

In the fall, some of the eggs develop into males (drones) and next year's queens. Drones and the queens mate, after which these future queens find a nice place underground to hibernate the winter away. Pretty much everyone else dies with the onset of winter. The following spring, the new queens emerge and the cycle begins again.

I was a little curious about their pollen basket. I'm used to seeing smooth, almost circular pollen baskets on Western Honeybees and Common Eastern Bumblebees, but the pollen basket on this individual looks more like a clumpy blob. I don't know if this is common for this species, or whether it says more about the flowers that the pollen came from. (Some bees have a cruder pollen-transportation structure called a scopa, but AFAIK all honeybees and bumblebees have pollen baskets.)

June 3, 2023 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve
Photo 300858072, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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