''Bombus sandersoni'' is a species of

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 ...

known commonly as the Sanderson bumblebee.Hatfield, R., et al. 2015
''Bombus sandersoni''.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 March 2016.NatureServe. 2015
''Bombus sandersoni''.
NatureServe Explorer Version 7.1. Accessed 10 March 2016. It is native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, where it occurs across Canada and in the eastern United States. The queen is 15 to 16 millimeters long and 6 millimeters wide at the abdomen. It is black with pale hairs on the head and yellow on the abdomen. The worker is up to 13 millimeters long and 5 millimeters wide. It is similar to the queen except the tip of the abdomen is black. The male is 10 to 13 millimeters long and 5 to 6 millimeters wide. It has long hairs, yellow on the head and part of the abdomen and black at the end of the abdomen. This bee occurs in maritime Canada, temperate forest, the Canadian Prairies,

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

, and

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...

. It lives in and around wooded areas. It feeds on several types of plants, including cohosh, fireweeds,

kalmia ''Kalmia'' is a genus of about ten species of evergreen shrubs from 0.2–5 m tall, in the family Ericaceae. They are native to North America (mainly in the eastern half of the continent) and Cuba. They grow in acidic soils, with different spec ...

honeysuckles Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both conti ...

, bergamot,

blackberries The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family (biology), family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus' ...

, and

bilberries Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...

. It nests underground. This bee has faced no significant declines. It may, however, be more sensitive to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

than other bee taxa. This species was found to harbor the bee parasite ''

Nosema bombi ''Nosema bombi'' is a microsporidian, a small, unicellular parasite recently reclassified as a fungus that mainly affects bumble bees. It was reclassified as ''Vairimorpha bombi'' in 2020. The parasite infects numerous ''Bombus'' spp. at variable ...

''.Sokolova, Y. Y., Sokolov, I. M., & Carlton, C. E. (2010)
Identification of ''Nosema bombi'' Fantham and Porter 1914 (Microsporidia) in ''Bombus impatiens'' and ''Bombus sandersoni'' from Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA).
''Journal of Invertebrate Pathology'', 103(1), 71-73.

References

Bumblebees Hymenoptera of North America Insects described in 1913 {{bombus-stub