Common Eastern Bumblebee

Bombus impatiens — the common eastern bumblebee — is the most widespread native bumblebee in eastern North America and the foundation of the North American commercial bumblebee pollination industry. The species is widespread across all of eastern North America from southern Canada south through the eastern US to northern Florida and west to the Great Plains. Workers and queens are 11-22 mm long, with the typical bumblebee black-and-yellow color pattern: a yellow band on the front of the thorax, a black-and-yellow striped abdomen, and the species' identifying feature being a SINGLE YELLOW BAND on the abdomen at the front (most other native NA bumblebees have multiple bands or different patterns). Bumblebees are unique among bees in their ability to perform BUZZ POLLINATION — workers grasp the anthers of certain flowers (tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, cranberries, eggplants, kiwifruit, potatoes, and approximately 6% of all flowering plants) and SONICATE THE FLOWER at specific frequencies (~400 Hz) by rapidly contracting their flight muscles without moving their wings. The vibration shakes pollen out of poricidal anthers (anthers with small terminal pores instead of longitudinal slits) that would not release pollen by normal contact. Honey bees, mason bees, and most other bee species cannot perform buzz pollination, making bumblebees ESSENTIAL pollinators for the buzz-pollinated crop families. The common eastern bumblebee is one of the few native NA bumblebees whose populations have INCREASED in recent decades — partially due to commercial rearing and escape from greenhouse populations. Most other native NA bumblebees are declining catastrophically due to habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and the spread of pathogens (especially Nosema bombi from commercial bumblebee populations to wild ones). The species is reared commercially in MILLIONS of colonies per year (primarily by companies like Koppert and BioBest) and shipped to greenhouse tomato, pepper, and strawberry growers across the continent. Each commercial colony pollinates an estimated 0.5-1 hectare of greenhouse crop. The species is one of the most ecologically and economically important pollinators in eastern North America.