Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:08:42.028Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

REPLACEMENT OF BOMBUS MUSCORUM BY BOMBUS PASCUORUM IN NORTHERN BRITAIN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

C.M.S. Plowright ,
R.C. Plowright  and
Paul H. Williams
C.M.S. Plowright
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIN 6N5
R.C. Plowright
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1Al
Paul H. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, England SW7 5BD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Records of bumble bees from four collecting trips (1977, 1978, 1988, and 1994) in northern Britain show apparent changes in the incidences of two species. Until 1988, Bombus muscorum (Linnaeus) and Bombus pascuorum (Scopoli) were found in the counties of Cumbria, Durham, and North Yorkshire. Only B. muscorum was found in the Orkney Islands in 1978. In 1994, however, B. pascuorum was found abundantly in all of these areas, and in the Orkney Islands we could find only a single B. muscorum. From these data, B. pascuorum appears to have been replacing B. muscorum in some parts of northern Britain.

Résumé

Des specimens de bourdons recueillis lors de quatre voyages (1977, 1978, 1988 et 1994) dans le nord de la Grande Bretagne démontrent, semblerait-il, des changements dans l’occurrence de deux espèces. Jusqu’à 1988 Bombus muscorum (Linnaeus) et Bombus pascuorum (Scopoli) étaient retrouvées dans les comtés de Cumbria, Durham et North Yorkshire. En 1978, seul B. muscorum était retrouvé sur les isles Orkades. En 1994, B. pascuorum fut retrouvé abondamment dans toutes ces régions, et sur les isles Orkades nous n’avons trouvé qu’un seul individu de B. muscorum. Ces données suggèrent que B. muscorum est en voie d’être remplacé par B. pascuorum dans quelques regions du nord de la Grande Bretagne.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 129 , Issue 6 , December 1997 , pp. 985 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alford, D.V. 1975. Bumblebees. Davis-Poynter, London.Google Scholar
International Bee Research Association. 1980. Atlas of the Bumblebees of the British Isles. ITE Publications 30.Google Scholar
Plowright, R.C. 1967. On the distribution of bumblebees in Norfolk. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society 21: 48–88.Google Scholar
Prŷs-Jones, O.E., and Corbet, S.A. 1991. Bumblebees. Naturalist' Handbooks 6. 2nd ed. Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd., Slough, England.Google Scholar
Richards, O.W. 1935. Bombus muscorum (Linnaeus) and B. smithianus White (Hym.). Transactions of the Society for British Entomology 2: 73–85.Google Scholar
Williams, P.H. 1982. The distribution and decline of British bumblebees. Journal of Apicultural Research 21: 236–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, P.H. 1989. Bumble Bees and their Decline in Britain. Central Association of Beekeepers, Ilford, England.Google Scholar