Northern white-tailed bumble bee

The northern white-tailed bumble bee is a big, fuzzy European bumblebee with a white tail end. It looks so much like a few other bumblebees that even bee experts mix them up. It likes open hills covered in heather.

How fast is it?
Fun facts
It looks almost the same as the white-tailed and buff-tailed bumblebees. Scientists have even used computer programs to help tell them apart.
Together with two close cousins, it belongs to a group called the white-tailed bumblebee complex.
Scientists also compare the smells that the males make to tell these bees apart.
Experts think a warming climate may cause problems for it.
Most asked questions about Northern white-tailed bumble bee
?How can you tell it from other white-tailed bumblebees?
It is very hard, even for experts. Scientists look at tiny details on the feelers, the males' smells and even their DNA.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Bombus magnus
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Apidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Northern white-tailed bumblebee
Where the facts come from
- Bombus magnus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Rasbak. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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.
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