American bumblebee
| Bombus pensylvanicus | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | Bombus |
| Species: | B. pensylvanicus |
| Binomial name | |
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Bombus pensylvanicus (De Geer, 1773) |
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| The general range of Bombus pensylvanicus. (Dashed line indicates former range.) Includes the highest density of the population, but does not include all of the areas of B. pensylvanicus. | |
| Synonyms | |
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Bombus pensylvanicus, the American bumblebee or Sonoran bumblebee, is a threatened species of bumblebee native to North America. It occurs in eastern Canada, throughout much of the United States, and much of Mexico.
Bombus pensylvanicus tends to live and nest in open farmland and fields. It feeds on several food plants, favoring sunflowers and clovers. Once the most prevalent bumblebee in the southern United States as its name suggests, populations of Bombus pensylvanicus have decreased significantly in recent years.
Bombus pensylvanicus belongs to the order Hymenoptera (consisting of ants, wasps, bees, and sawflies), the family Apidae (consisting of Cuckoo, Digger, Carpenter, Bumble, and Honeybees), the Subfamily Apinae (consisting of Honey, Orchid, Bumble, Long-horned, and Digger Bees), and the genus Bombus (consisting of bumblebees). Within Bombus, B. pensylvanicus belongs to the subgenus Thoracobombus, which includes closely relates species like Bombus armeniacus, Bombus atratus, Bombus dahlbomii, Bombus fervidus, Bombus humilis, Bombus morio, Bombus muscorum, Bombus pascuorum, Bombus pomorum, Bombus ruderarius, Bombus sylvarum, and Bombus transversalis. Bombus pensylvanicus is sometimes mistaken for B. terricola and B. auricomus, but its closest relative is Bombus sonorus, found in Mexico and Arizona. Scientists sometimes treat Bombus sonorus as a subspecies of Bombus pensylvanicus, although each species maintain differences in male genitalia. Intermediate individuals of B. pensylvanicus and B.sonorus have been found in Mexico, but further evidence is needed to distinguish whether B. sonorus is a subspecies of B. pensylvanicus.
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Wikipedia