Bumblebbe ID

[sebastianbawn]

Yet another pesky bumblebee for ID

[JRsbugs]

Missed this one! It's Bombus pratorum.

Janet

[sebastianbawn]

hanks Janet, now have I got this right...? Its a female? as the males are only there to...well we all know why they are there lol

[JRsbugs]

I think it's a male, longer antennae, the yellow thorax collar goes around the shoulders. Female workers and queens can also be with or without a yellow abdomen stripe but the thorax stripe doesn't go to the shoulders, this can be deceiving though!

I can't see enough of the back leg to see if it has pollen baskets but the other things tell me it's likely to be a male. I'll upload a pic of a similar male I have. If you could see the face, males have yellow hairs where females have black.

Males don't die off as quickly as you might think, they just keep feeding while their time comes!

[JRsbugs]

Looking again at yours I can't be certain which it is! Could be a female, the abdomen looks quite rounded but that could be the angle.

Here's two different males, you can see the yellow face hairs and how much the collar extends around the shoulders compared to the female in the third pic.

[sebastianbawn]

Hi Janet. I found another pic, I believe this is the same specimen. it was acting funny on the floor (raising and lowering its tail end) and shot a dot of liquid out onto the floor??!

Going by your helpful tips, would this make it a male (the extended yellow collar)

[JRsbugs]

Yes that looks like a male, a little yellow hair is visible on the face too.

it was acting funny on the floor (raising and lowering its tail end) and shot a dot of liquid out onto the floor??!

Well what goes in must come out!

[sebastianbawn]

Lol, I did wonder if that was what he was doing
Thanks for your help