Corresponding author: Jonathan B. Koch (
Academic editor: Michael S. Engel
Bumble bees (
This paper describes US
The purpose of this database is to make available data associated with bees of the genus
US
Jonathan Koch (author), Jeffrey Lozier (author), James Strange (author), Harold Ikerd (database manager, author), Terry Griswold (author), Nils Cordes (author), Leellen Solter (author), Isaac Stewart (author), Sydney Cameron (author).
This dataset covers a wide range of ecoregions found throughout the continental United States and Alaska, from 29° to 68° latitude and -150° to -68° longitude (Figs
We describe the distribution of bumble bees based on political boundaries and ecoregions that have been developed by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) (
The purpose of the dataset is to make available data associated with a standardized survey of bees of the genus
Specimen data in the US
All locations were georeferenced with a Garmin GPS unit in the field with the coordinate form of decimal latitude and longitude in the WGS84 datum. In this paper specimen records are represented geospatially using ArcGIS and WWF Biotic Regions (Figs
United States Department of Agriculture grant CSREES-NRI 2007-02274.
This dataset was primarily developed to determine the extent of bumble bee decline in the United States. Thus, we did not survey in areas that have historically been under-sampled for bumble bees, nor did we survey well-sampled areas outside of the known ranges of the four focal species suspected to be in decline (
Specimens represented in the US
All unrecognizable individuals collected in the field were carefully examined by the authors using taxonomic keys and field guides (
All specimens described in this dataset have been batch entered into the USNPID following the flowchart in Fig.
This dataset includes occurrence records of bees in the genus
68° and 29° Latitude; -68° and 150° Longitude.
US
In our dataset of North American
The least abundant and species-poor subgenus detected in our survey was
The taxonomic status of three species in our dataset has been debated within the past decade, specifically
The species with the least number of records in our survey are
All bumble bee species determinations in this dataset have been reviewed by the authors. Specimens not identified to species due to poor physical conditions are included in the dataset as “
Rank | Scientific Name | Common Name |
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kingdom |
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phylum |
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class |
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order |
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family |
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subfamily |
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tribe |
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genus |
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bumble bee, bumblebee, humble bee, dumbledore |
species |
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Rusty-patched bumble bee |
species |
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White-shouldered bumble bee |
species |
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Black and gold bumble bee |
species |
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High country bumble bee |
species |
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Two form bumble bee |
species |
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Two-spotted bumble bee |
species |
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Northern amber bumble bee |
species |
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California bumble bee |
species |
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Obscure bumble bee |
species |
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Central bumble bee |
species |
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Lemon cuckoo bumble bee |
species | Fernald cuckoo bumble bee | |
species |
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Yellow bumble bee |
species |
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Yellow head bumble bee |
species |
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Southern plains bumble bee |
species |
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Frigid bumble bee |
species |
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Brown-belted bumble bee |
species |
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Hunt bumble bee |
species |
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Common eastern bumble bee |
species |
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Indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee |
species |
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Heath bumble bee |
species |
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Black tail bumble bee |
species |
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Fuzzy-horned bumble bee |
species | Cryptic Bumble Bee | |
species |
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Morrison bumble bee |
species |
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Nevada bumble bee |
species |
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Western bumble bee |
species |
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American bumble bee |
species |
|
Confusing bumble bee |
species |
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Red-belted bumble bee |
species |
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Sanderson bumble bee |
species |
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Sitka bumble bee |
species |
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Suckley cuckoo bumble bee |
species |
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Forest bumble bee |
species |
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Tri-colored bumble bee |
species |
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Yellow-banded bumble bee |
species |
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Half-black bumble bee |
species |
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van Dyke bumble bee |
species |
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Vosnesensky bumble bee |
The bumble bee surveys described in US
USDA-ARS National Pollinating Insect Collection, Logan, Utah, U.S.A.
BBSL & EBOD
Dried and Pinned Specimens
Of the 17,930 bumble bee records, 9,380 records represent 9,363 dried and pinned adult individuals affixed with label data and matrix barcode. The specimens are housed in standard insect museum drawers and preserved from dermestid beetle damage by routine freezing of drawers at -20°C. All specimens are housed at the U.S. National Pollinating Insect Collection in Logan, Utah and are individually represented by the barcode prefix BBSL. The remaining 831 digital records represent 8,567 bumble bees that were caught and released in the field after identification in the eastern U.S.A. Thus, no pinned specimen or label data are associated with these data. These observation records are represented by the barcode prefix EBOD. All species determinations were made by authorities in bumble bee taxonomy, identification, and natural history.
Creative Commons CCZero
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licenses.
USBombus, a database of contemporary survey data for North American Bumble Bees (
1
USBombus
Darwin Core Archive
2.4
US
Column label | Column description |
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id | Identification Information. OccurrenceID. |
type | Pinned Specimen or Observation Record |
language | Language (=English) |
rights | Rights |
rightsHolder | Rights Holder |
collectionID | Collection ID |
institutionCode | Institution Code |
collectionCode | Collection Code |
datasetName | Data set Name |
ownerInstitutionCode | Owner Institution Code |
basisOfRecord | Preserved Specimen or Observation Record |
informationWithheld | Information Withheld (Yes, No) |
occurrenceID | Occurrence ID |
catalogNumber | Catalog Number |
recordedBy | Recorded By (i.e., Collectors) |
individualCount | Count of Specimens |
sex | Female, Female Queen, or Male |
otherCatalogNumbers | Other Catalog Numbers |
previousIdentifications | Previous Identifications |
associatedReferences | Associated References |
associatedTaxa | Associated Taxa, e.g., Floral Host |
year | Year |
month | Month |
day | Day |
verbatimEventDate | Verbatim Event Date |
fieldNumber | Plot ID, if relevant |
country | Country |
stateProvince | State/Provnce |
county | County |
locality | Locality Description |
verbatimElevation | Verbatim Elevation |
minimumElevationInMeters | Elevation based on U.S. DEM (2015) |
decimalLatitude | Latitude WGS 1984 |
decimalLongitude | Longitude WGS 1984 |
geodeticDatum | Datum (Geospatial) |
identifiedBy | Species Identification Author |
identificationQualifier | Identification Qualifier |
scientificName | Scientific Name |
kingdom | Kingdom |
phylum | Phylum |
class | Class |
order | Order |
family | Family |
genus | Genus |
subgenus | Subgenus |
specificEpithet | Specific Epithet |
infraspecificEpithet | Infraspecific Epithet |
taxonRank | Taxon Rank |
scientificNameAuthorship | Scientific Name Authorship |
Cordes N (2010) The role of pathogens in the decline of North American bumble bees with a focus on the Microsporidium Howard, E (2013) Land-use Change and the Decline of the Western Bumble Bee. MS Thesis. The George Washington University. Koch JB (2011) The decline and conservation status of North American bumble bees. MS Thesis, Utah State University. Lozier, J.D., 2014. Revisiting comparisons of genetic diversity in stable and declining species: assessing genome-wide polymorphism in North American bumble bees using RAD sequencing. Molecular Ecology 23, 788–801. Lozier, J.D., Strange, J.P., Koch, J.B., 2013. Landscape heterogeneity predicts gene flow in a widespread polymorphic bumble bee, Lozier, J.D., Strange, J.P., Stewart, I.J., Cameron, S.A., 2011. Patterns of range-wide genetic variation in six North American bumble bee ( Szabo ND, Colla SR, Wagner, DL, Gall, LW, Kerr JT (2012) Do pathogen spillover, pesticide use, or habitat loss explain recent North American bumblebee declines? Conservation Letters 5:232-239.
We are greatly indebted to the volunteers and technicians who assisted us in surveying wild bumble bees in the field and curating them into the U.S. National Pollinating Insect Collection. This work would have not been possible without their patience, kindness, and persistence. We thank Sheila Colla and John Ascher for suggestions that greatly improved this manuscript, and Michael Engel for serving as our subject editor. This study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture grant CSREES-NRI 2007-02274.
Distribution of bumble bee surveys in the contiguous United States and Alaska. Size of symbol represents the abundance of bumble bees detected. US states not included in the dataset are cross-hatched.
Distribution of bumble bee species richness detected in surveys in the contiguous United States and Alaska. Warmer colors represent high species richness whereas cooler colors represent low richness. Species richness is simply defined as the number of different species detected at a study site. US states not included in the dataset are cross-hatched.
Survey site abundance per World Wildlife Fund ecoregion (
Percentage of specimen records per species detected in the western United States, including Alaska (Suppl. material
Percentage of specimen records per species detected in the eastern United States. Eastern sites are defined as survey sites that are east of the Colorado Rockies (104th western longitude). Bumble bees that are found in both the western and eastern United States are grouped with the western bumble bee species in Fig.
Flowchart for processing of specimen samples at the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects- Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Laboratory.
Relative abundance of
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2 | 22 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
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13 | 260 | 19 | 54 | 27 |
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11 | 502 | 86 | 0 | 14 |
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5 | 55 | 0 | 36 | 64 |
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19 | 2870 | 35 | 35 | 30 |
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14 | 1042 | 91 | 9 | 0 |
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7 | 25 | 76 | 20 | 4 |
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10 | 104 | 62 | 17 | 21 |
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4 | 75 | 95 | 5 | 0 |
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15 | 663 | 20 | 25 | 56 |
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3 | 11 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
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13 | 91 | 41 | 48 | 11 |
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19 | 162 | 80 | 7 | 13 |
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25 | 910 | 40 | 19 | 41 |
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5 | 16 | 75 | 25 | 0 |
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8 | 98 | 0 | 19 | 81 |
|
29 | 2042 | 89 | 7 | 4 |
|
13 | 577 | 24 | 11 | 65 |
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18 | 3138 | 90 | 9 | 0 |
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18 | 288 | 36 | 30 | 34 |
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7 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
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18 | 278 | 37 | 39 | 24 |
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21 | 945 | 50 | 41 | 9 |
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5 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
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6 | 25 | 32 | 0 | 68 |
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11 | 108 | 45 | 26 | 29 |
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17 | 415 | 6 | 9 | 86 |
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16 | 530 | 98 | 1 | 2 |
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8 | 69 | 67 | 16 | 17 |
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17 | 395 | 64 | 11 | 25 |
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1 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
|
12 | 203 | 38 | 38 | 24 |
|
3 | 19 | 26 | 68 | 5 |
|
13 | 199 | 8 | 31 | 61 |
|
6 | 291 | 92 | 1 | 6 |
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5 | 31 | 0 | 52 | 48 |
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14 | 346 | 66 | 32 | 3 |
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6 | 44 | 78 | 9 | 13 |
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8 | 959 | 87 | 13 | 0 |
Count of specimens of each bumble bee species in the western U.S.A. and Alaska
occurences
Count of specimens per species in western United States and Alaska, including some species that are found in the Eastern United States.
File: oo_59705.csv
Count of specimens of each bumble bee species in the eastern U.S.A.
occurences
Count of specimens per species from in eastern United States. Some species that are also found in the western United States were included in Supplementary Table 1.
File: oo_59706.csv