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Moss carder bee

Bombus muscorum

Basic Information

Common name: Moss carder bee
Scientific name: Bombus muscorum

Neat, pale, all-ginger bee.

Mainly coastal.

Classification

Bee TypeBumblebee
StatusRare
Cuckoo StatusNon-cuckoo
DistributionLocalised
Tail ColourGinger Tail

Keynotes

  • May have golden 'halo' around thorax

  • Occasionally has brown band at top of abdomen

  • Never has any black hairs

  • On Scottish and Channel Islands, has dark form with black thorax and dark-ginger abdomen

Nest Information

  • Surface (or just below) in tall grassland

  • 1 cycle per year

  • Covers nest with grass and moss

  • Small: fewer than 100 workers

Distribution

  • Slightly more common in north and Scotland

  • Coastal in England and Wales

  • Habitat: flowery grasslands, meadows, marshes, moors

Castes

QUEEN

April
QUEEN diagram
No Photo

  1. Ginger

  2. Ginger

  3. Ginger

  4. Ginger

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

  2. Ginger

  3. Ginger

  4. Ginger

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

  2. Ginger

  3. Ginger

  4. Ginger

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

Flower Preferences

Long tongue. Likes clover and heather.

  • Dead-nettles

  • Lathyrus peas

  • Red bartsia

  • Scabious

  • Sow-thistle

  • Teasel

  • Trefoils

  • Vetches

  • Wall-rockets

Heather

Heather

Calluna vulgaris

🌼

Red clover

Thistle

Thistle

Cirsium