Another Bumblebee ID

[beech]

I had a look at this and thought that it was very similar to the cuckoo B Barbutellus in my fieldguide, though they are not shown to be present anywhere near this area so I could be very wrong in this ID. Any thoughts or suggestions on the ID welcome

Thanks

[JRsbugs]

Could be Bombus hortorum male but the pics are not close enough to say for sure.

Janet

[beech]

Thanks JR I thought it was going too well I will pop back to the site and see if I can relocate and get better pics

I took these shots of 2 different individuals both I believe of the same species but the yellow band just before the white tip to the tail has me a bit baffled.

[JRsbugs]

Another cuckoo, male Bombus vestalis. There is a similar one, B. bohemicus but that is much rarer and has less yellow above the white.. you also need to see the antennal segments for that.

[beech]

Thanks for the ID JR thats another new one for me. Came across these 2 whilst after the possible cuckoo. I wondered if it was a B Ruderatus or possibly a black B Campenstris. It was very large. The second I have no real idea about only that its not B Monticola but possibly B Ruderarius as it does appear to have red hairs on the legs

[Matt Smith]

First one is a dark form male of something like Bombus hortorum or B.ruderatus but a definate ID is not possible from these photos. I'd lean towards B.hortorum as its a very "scruffy" bee, B.ruderatus are nomally shorter haird and look far more "plush" and "tidy"

Second bee is a male B.lapidarius. The "red hairs on the pollen basket" character for B.ruderarius is a "female only" character so not applicable here. B.monticola would have much more red on the abdomen.

[beech]

Thanks Matt

[JRsbugs]

Second bee could also be B pratorum male, you would need to see the face to say for sure. I haven't yet seen B. lapidarius males this early but last year I saw one on 21st June so it's possible.

[beech]

Thanks JR and Matt. There is a lot to learn in identifying Bumblebees

Found a Bumblebees nest today

[JRsbugs]

A hole in the ground! It's either B. terrestris worker or B. lucorum, if you could see the tail end closer and could see a thin brown line between the black and white it would be B. terrestris but the dark gold bands suggest terrestris anyway. Not conclusive though!