Bug Wiki
Sticker of Black-clothed bumble bee
Bug card No. 0455 of 4,939

Black-clothed bumble bee

Bombus pullatus
Eats: Nectar and pollenBees and bumblebeesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The black-clothed bumble bee is a tropical bumblebee from Mexico and Central America. Most bumblebee nests have just one queen, but its nests can have many queens. It is a busy flower visitor, but it does not like anyone near its nest.

Lives in
Southern Mexico and Central America, mostly Costa Rica
Top speed
about 16 km/h (9.9 mph)
Flying, estimate
What does it eat?
It drinks nectar and collects pollen from many kinds of plants. Some workers have their own favourite flowers.
For real!Photo of Black-clothed bumble bee
Picture by Rob Foster. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

In one nest, scientists counted 36 queens among 343 bees.

2

About 9 out of 10 known colonies are in Costa Rica.

3

It usually nests on the ground, tied to strong plants so tropical storms do not wash it away. One nest was found 5.5 metres up.

4

Workers tidy the nest by shredding leaves and kicking the bits onto the sides to make it stronger.

5

A trip to collect food can take about 50 minutes.

you asked

Most asked questions about Black-clothed bumble bee

?Where does the black-clothed bumble bee live?

In southern Mexico and Central America, mostly in Costa Rica, from lowlands to high mountains.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Bombus pullatus
Group
Bees and bumblebees
Family
Apidae
Classification
Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Bombus pullatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Rob Foster. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip

More from the same group: Bees and bumblebees

Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

Honey jarfor grown-ups