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White-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum

The White-tailed Bumblebee looks like the Earth Bumblebee a lot. At times the two species are very hard to tell apart. It is smaller than the Earth Bumblebee, but that is only visible studying both of them at the same time. Besides, the two species are variable in size. Especially the first workers may be very small indeed. The queen is some 20 mm long and reaches a wingspan of 35 to 40 mm. Most variable are the workers. The length may be anything from 9 up to 16 mm, giving them a wingspan of 20 to 33 mm. The males are less variable and hardly any smaller than those of the Earth Bumblebee. At first sight the White-tailed Bumblebee is identical to the Earth Bumblebee: a black hairy bee, having one yellow band on the thorax, just behind the head, one yellow band on the abdomen and a white tail. The yellow however is described as citrine in the White-tailed Bumblebee and as brownish yellow in the Earth Bumblebee. However in older animals of both species the yellow may fade to greyish or whitish. The males have much more yellow hairs all over and have a bushy appearance, as if they desperately need a haircut. The White-tailed Bumblebee is an early species, usually flying about from mid-March, but sometimes the first will appear in February. The nest is made underground, normally in an abandoned nest of a mouse. Colonies are much smaller than those of the Earth Bumblebee and contain some 100 to 300 animals; by exception they may grow up to 400 animals. In August the colony collapses and young queens will search for a suitable place to overwinter. The White-tailed Bumblebee is a true opportunist and is always ready to live near humans. In spring it frequents fruit trees. In summer many cultivated garden flowers will be readily visited. It is a very common species all over the British Isles and can be found not only in gardens and parks, but in the country side, forests and even mountains as well. In the Alps it has been found at altitudes well over 2,000 metres.

The animals in the two top pictures are probably both workers. The animals in the other pictures are drones (males).