''Bombus hypocrita'', also known as the short-tongued bumblebee, is a Japanese bumblebee commonly used in commercial pollination. These short-tongued bumblebees have a proboscis about 7-9mm long, which is folded under their head when flying. Bumblebees are a small fuzzy insect with yellow and black banding along their abdomen. They are round and covered in pile, the hair-like structures that give them their distinct fuzzy appearance.

Distribution and habitat

''Bombus hypocrita'' is one of the more common native bumblebees found in Japan, and can be found throughout all of Japan. ''B. hypocrita'' prefer to forage in open, sunny areas and nest underground, often in abandoned rodent dens. ''B. hypocrita'' are able to travel over 800 meters foraging for food.

Behaviour

Bumblebees are common commercial pollinators, as they are able to pollinate effectively using a technique called buzz-foraging. Buzz-foraging is when the Bumblebee lands on the

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

of the flower and rapidly vibrates their whole body to get as much of the pollen on their body as possible. This allows them to be effective pollinators even for plants like tomatoes who have flowers that do not produce nectar.

Mating

''Bombus hypocrita'' have very similar reproductive cycles as most other

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

s with one queen and her colony of male and female worker bees. They have been observed scent-marking flowers and there have been indications that this scent marking plays an important role in premating reproductive isolation. Queens will oviposit 7-10 eggs in wax cells, which can then either hatch without fertilization, resulting in

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...

males, or become fertilized, producing

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...

females.

Diet

The main source of food is the nectar of flowering herbs and shrubs, preferring flowers with wide or shallow faces such as

roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

, squash flowers, or

morning glories Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

. It has been speculated that these bumblebees visit squash flowers to help facilitate reproduction in the colony.

Threats to the population

Pesticides

Bumblebees are incredibly beneficial to the environment and agricultural industries. Unfortunately there is always risk for insects that live or forage in agricultural crops because of pesticides. The four common ones used in Japan are Mosplian, Kingbo, Score, and Lvrtong. While the short-tongued bumblebee is more resistant to these pesticides than other native species in Japan, they still suffer negative effects from them, such as decreased effectiveness in foraging up to death.

Invasive Species

''B. hypocrita'' is one of the bumblebee species used in commercialization in Japan. After the introduction of ''

Bombus terrestris ''Bombus terrestris'', the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee, is one of the most numerous bumblebee species in Europe. It is one of the main species used in greenhouse pollination, and so can be found in many countries and areas wher ...

'' into their ecosystem they have started to diminish. This is because ''B. terrestris'' has an almost identical foraging season, and forages on similar flowers as ''B. hypocrita.'' ''B. terrestris'' has also been found to be mating with and inseminating the queens of ''B. hypocrita''. ''B. hypocrita'' and ''B. terrestris'' have only been able to produce offspring in laboratory settings and all resulting children are inviable, or sterile. Hybridized offspring have not been found in the wild, though ''B. terrestris'' do inseminate ''B. hypocrita.'' The cross insemination between species only further results in the decline of ''B. hypocrita'' since their queens only copulate once or twice. ''B. hypocrita'' has its own natural parasites like the

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

, but with the global commercialization of ''B. terrestris'' other species of mites have begun to invade their habitat, increasing their risk for decline. However, in laboratory conditions queens from ''B. hypocrita'' are able to increase their number of offspring when supplied with workers from ''B. terrestris.'' Up to twice as many worker bees were produced when the queen was given helper bees from the invasive species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2480990 Bumblebees Hymenoptera of Asia Insects described in 1905