Bombus

A bumblebee is any of over 250 species in the genus Bombus, part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera are known from fossils. They are found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, although they are also found in South America, where a few lowland tropical species have been identified. European bumblebees have also been introduced to New Zealand and Tasmania. Female bumblebees can sting repeatedly, but generally ignore humans and other animals.

Bombus

Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
bumble beePBDB
Sits inside
BombiniPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37 Mya to 129 ka.

Eocene — about 2 of 26 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 5 of 26 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 18 of 26 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 26 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 26 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–8.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.8–7.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.5–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence33.9 Mya774 ka37.7 Mya0 Mya

26 occurrences of Bombus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

26 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

9 formations

Shanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WLatah — 46.53°N, 116.79°WLatah — 47.61°N, 117.43°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EBotchi — 47.99°N, 139.45°ERandeck Maar — 48.57°N, 9.53°ECypris — 50.08°N, 12.54°EMost — 50.57°N, 13.73°EMiyajima — 36.98°N, 139.82°E

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The named rock units Bombus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bombus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Bombus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

696 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Bombus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

19 references

Each of the 26 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 7 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Bombus

Credit
Ivar Leidus
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Bombus Bombus eximius · ETHZ:ENT:0575926

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBombini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802