Bumble... Buff-Tailed or White-Tailed?

[tigger]

Hello

I'm no expert on Bumblebees, so wondered if someone could tell me whether this bedraggled bumble is a Buff-tailed or White-tailed?

Also, would this be a queen? It was about 2cm long.



Many thanks

Jane

[Laurence Clemons]

The narrow golden band between the black and white at the rear suggests Buff-tailed.

[Dogghound]

Very similar species although the fact this one is wet makes the colour's abit dark it is the buff tailed Bombus terrestris.

[tigger]

Many many thanks for your help. I'm just learning ... and it's always helpful to have some backup from you guys!

Jane

[total_bombus]

The buff margin (to the best of my knowledge) does indicate that it is a buff-tailed but beware buff-tailed/white-tailed separation is frought with difficultly and generally not reliable in the field.

Interestingly the tail colouration does seem to be quite white for a buff-tailed queen-the queen buff tails are usually the easiest to separate because they have the buff (yellowish/brown tails) compared to the pure white tail queens of the white-tailed species. Probably simply due to individual variation in this case rather than being a worker as early season workers are generally much smaller than the queens occuring this time of year. Probably the best indicator is the actual behaviour of the bee as queens will likely to be focusing on finding a nest (often with a zig-zag or searching flight pattern) while workers will be focusing on collecting nectar and pollen from flowers.

So the short answer is yes probably a queen but not a typical example!