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Moss carder bee

Bombus muscorum

Basic Information

Common name: Moss carder bee
Scientific name: Bombus muscorum

Neat, pale-ginger bee with a golden 'halo'.

Mainly in north Scotland and coastal England and Wales.

Classification

Bee TypeBumblebee
StatusRare
Cuckoo StatusNon-cuckoo
DistributionLocalised
Tail ColourGinger Tail

Keynotes

  • Never has black hairs

  • Occasionally has a brown band at top of abdomen

  • Moss carder bees on Scottish and Channel Islands have dark form with black thorax and dark-ginger abdomen

Nest Information

  • On ground surface or just below surface in tall grassland

  • 1 nest cycle per year

  • Lasts around 3 months

  • Small: fewer than 100 workers

Distribution

  • Rare everywhere

  • More common in the north and in Scotland

  • Localised to coastline in England and Wales

  • Habitat: likes flowery grasslands, meadows, marshes and moors

Castes

QUEEN

April
QUEEN diagram
No Photo

  1. Ginger fluffy face

  2. Ginger with golden 'halo'

  3. Pale ginger

  4. Pale ginger tail

Tail:Ginger/Yellow tail
Thorax:All Ginger
Abdomen:All Yellow/Ginger, Multiple ginger bands
Head:Ginger Head

WORKER

May
WORKER diagram
No Photo

  1. Ginger fluffy face

  2. Ginger with golden 'halo'

  3. Pale ginger

  4. Pale ginger tail

Tail:Ginger/Yellow tail
Thorax:All Ginger
Abdomen:All Yellow/Ginger, Multiple ginger bands
Head:Ginger Head

MALE

June
MALE diagram
No Photo

  1. Ginger fluffy face

  2. Ginger with golden 'halo'

  3. Pale ginger

  4. Pale ginger tail

Tail:Ginger/Yellow tail
Thorax:All Ginger
Abdomen:All Yellow/Ginger, Multiple ginger bands
Head:Ginger Head

Flower Preferences

Long tongue. Likes meadow flowers, clover and heather.

  • Bird's-foot trefoil

  • Vetches

  • Dead-nettles

  • Lathyrus peas

  • Teasel

  • Wall-rockets

  • Sow-thistle

  • Devil's-bit scabious

  • Red bartsia

Heather

Heather

Calluna vulgaris

🌼

Red clover

Thistle

Thistle

Cirsium