The pubescence is shorter and less dense. The queen is similar but larger, 13⁄ 16 ″ to ⅞ ″ (21 to 22 mm) in length. The legs are black and are covered with mostly black hairs. The wings are clear and lightly tinted brown. On the remaining segments the hairs are entirely black. On the second segment it is mostly yellow except for a rusty-red patch in the middle. The hair on the first segment is entirely yellow. The abdomen has six segments and is densely covered with relatively long hairs. Between the wings there is a band of black hairs that extends toward the rear in a V shape. The hairs near the flap-like covering of the wing bases (tegulae) are black intermixed with yellow. The upper side of the thorax is densely covered with long, mostly yellow hairs. The tongue is short, shorter than any other bumble bee species. The first flagellomere is slightly longer than the third, and the third is somewhat longer than the second. The scape is long, slightly more than half as long as all of the flagellomeres together. The antennae have 12 segments consisting of one basal segment (scape), one small connecting segment (pedicel), and ten more segments (flagellomeres). The hairs on the head are entirely black, including a dense band of hairs on top of the head (vertex) at the rear. The width of the abdomen is 3⁄ 16 ″ to 5⁄ 16 ″ (5 to 8 mm). The female (worker) bee is 7⁄ 16 ″ to ⅝ ″ (11 to 16 mm) long. It currently occurs in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, and there are a few widely scattered recent records from Ontario, Quebec, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and West Virginia. Since the 1990s populations have declined severely in 87% of its historical range. It was historically common throughout most of its range, which extended from Maine to Georgia, west to Minnesota, with a few individuals found in North Dakota. This species is listed as endangered in its native Ontario and Quebec ranges by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada and under the federal Species at Risk Act.Rusty-patched bumble bee is a relatively large colonial bumble bee. It was assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The rusty-patched bumble bee is facing extinction. Although the specific cause of its decline is unknown, scientists believe habitat loss, pesticide use and disease spread from commercial to wild bumble bees is partly to blame. Since 2002, only a few bees have been sighted in Ontario at Pinery Provincial Park. In the past 30 years, this species’ population has declined at least 99 per cent. Once widespread and common across North America, this species has endured a rapid decline throughout much of its range. What is this species’ conservation status? Rusty-patched bumble bees frequent open woods, urban areas, gardens, wetlands and fields but are suffering from the effects of these areas being lost or degraded. This species of bumble bee is known as a habitat generalist, and can adapt to a diverse range of environmental conditions. The rusty-patched bumble bee was once broadly distributed throughout eastern North America. It feeds from a wide variety of flowering plants such as milkweed, sunflowers and goldenrod. Due to their distinctively short tongues, this species “nectar-robs” flowers by piercing a hole at the back of the flower to reach pollen and nectar. This species is a medium to large bee, with workers measuring from one to two centimetres long and queens averaging around two centimetres long. The rusty-patched bumble bee is named for the rust-coloured patch on the stomach of worker and male bees. Rusty-patched bumble bee What does it look like?
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