Bumblebees and Honey Bees
BumbleBees, which belong to the genus Bombas are closely related to Honey bees, which belong to the genus Apis. Both are members of the Apidae family, which also includes the Orchard Bees, Euglossoni and the Stingless Bees, Meliponinae. All the members of the Apidae family share the common feature of a pollen "basket" on their legs, and all show some degree of social behavior.
Honey bees are by far the most socially developed, living in highly organized colonies; bumblebees are considered to be semi-social insects. They build their nests in the ground, frequently in abandoned rodent nests. Unlike honey bee colonies, which include tens of thousands of workers, bumblebee colonies only have a few hundred members. Bumblebees make honey, but in quantities measured in ounces, not pounds. The bumblebee is a native of North America, while the honey bee was imported from Europe. To a certain extent, the two are competitors for nectar sources.
In the spring, the bumblebee queen lays her first batch of eggs on a bed of pollen in a wax cell and incubates them with her body heat. When the eggs hatch the larvae eat the pollen and also regurgitated food fed to them by the queen. Later batches of brood are fed entirely on regurgitated food fed to them at intervals by the queen and workers. This shift in diet is referred to as "progressive feeding." Unlike honey bee colonies, bumblebee colonies no not over-winter. The workers die off and the queen restarts the colony in the spring.
Bumblebees are also important pollinators, but lees so than the honey bees only because there are far fewer bumblebees around. Very likely because the workers die every winter. I imagine this is to save them having to store food as the honey bee does in the form of honey. But the honey bee has the advantage come spring because there is a nearly full hive ready to go and harvest the spring nectar while the bumblebee queen is still tending her first brood.
The video below shows a couple of bumblebees on a Sunflower. Note the pollen all over the second bee to arrive. That pollen is from another flower and some of it will be dumped on this one. That’s how it works.
Sustainable Living Quote:
The remedy to global environment and development problems lies not in reducing growth, but in breaking the connection between expanded prosperity and depleted resources
- World Resources Institute, Washington