Common Carder Bumble Bee
Bombus pascuorum
They are called 'carder' bees because they use their mandibles and legs to comb and gather moss and withered grass into a protective thatch over their nests.
- Scientific name
- Bombus pascuorum
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Hymenoptera › Apidae › Bombus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Meadows, gardens, pastures, forest edges, and roadside verges.
- Diet
- Nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers, particularly long-tubed flowers like clover, vetches, and dead-nettles.
- Range
- Europe, Northern Asia, United Kingdom
- Size
- Queens: 15-18 mm, Workers: 9-15 mm, Males: 12-14 mm
- Lifespan
- Queens live up to 1 year; workers and drones live for 3 to 4 weeks.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat fragmentation, intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and loss of diverse wildflower meadows.
- Safe to approach?
- This species is harmless and very docile, stinging only if physically crushed or if their nest is directly threatened. You can safely observe them from inches away as they forage. If stung, wash the area with soap and water, apply a cold compress, and monitor for rare signs of severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), which requires immediate medical attention.
Bombus pascuorum , the common carder bee , is a species of bumblebee present in most of Europe in a wide variety of habitats such as meadows, pastures, waste ground, ditches and embankments, roads, and field margins, as well as gardens and parks in urban areas and forests and forest edges. It is similar in appearance to Bombus muscorum , and is replacing the species in Northern Britain . ...
Photo: Kostas Zontanos, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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