Appearance
Compared to other bumblebee species, the individuals of "B. lucorum" have shorter tongues, and this characteristic enable them to rob nectar. The worker bee uses the horny sheath around its tongue to make a hole through the flower, reaching the nectar without entering the flower. Therefore, the worker bee does not come in contact with the pollen while getting the nectar.
Naming
In 1983, Scholl and Obrecht even coined the term "Bombus lucorum" complex to explain the three taxa that cannot be easily differentiated from one another by their appearances. A recent review of all of these species worldwide has helped to clarify its distribution in Europe and northern Asia, almost to the Pacific. "B. lucorum" reaches the Barents Sea in the North. However, in southern Europe, it is an upland species with its distribution never quite reaching the Mediterranean.
Distribution
"B. lucorum" is distributed widely and can be found in the Palaearctic, Oriental, Arctic, western Nearctic regions, and Japan. It is more common in more northern parts. It also can be found in Iceland, where it was probably introduced by humans, and Britain. Its habitats include coastal, farmland, grassland, heathland, towns, gardens, upland, and woodland edges. Basically, the species can be found anywhere where there are flowers for food.
Reproduction
The nests of "B. lucorum" can be found underground and may be very large, containing up to 400 workers. Often, they are abandoned nests of old mice or vole. In the nest, the queen makes a circular chamber where she builds a wax egg cell in which she lays her first batch of eggs. The eggs are laid on a layer of pollen and then covered again with a wax layer.In the United Kingdom, where the species is very common, they prefer to have their nests facing south for extra warmth.
Food
After the queens emerge from their hibernation, they forage on flowers including crocus, Erica, Mahonia, white and red deadnettles, Prunus, flowering currant and bluebells. However, the bees forage on many other flowers, including many garden plants, such as lavender, "Hebe, Rhododendron", deadnettles, thistles, and vetches, as well as ceanothus, wall flower, campanula, privet, sage, Hypericum, bramble, red bartsia, clovers, lupins, honeysuckle, sedum, knapweed, Buddleia, thistles, viper’s bugloss, and trefoils, and comfrey.References:
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