Since we live on the fringe if not inside the Pine Barrens, thought this oughta be recorded.
Ro photographed a bumblebee on Lantana in our backyard. Doug Yanega, U of Cal/Riverside entomology prof and bee expert and Ken Shields, another college entomology prof, confirmed identification. Pix below. On-line correspondence resulted in following.
From Doug Yanega: "This is an aberrant morph of Bombus impatiens. I was recently discussing this phenomenon with Sydney Cameron; a few species (including impatiens) have mutants that replace normally black hairs with brownish/reddish hairs. It would be good to get this into the BugGuide archives, as mutants like this are rarely documented, and people using field guides will almost inevitably get them wrong."
Ro's struggling with the BugGuide archives entry program as I write this.
Ro photographed a bumblebee on Lantana in our backyard. Doug Yanega, U of Cal/Riverside entomology prof and bee expert and Ken Shields, another college entomology prof, confirmed identification. Pix below. On-line correspondence resulted in following.
From Doug Yanega: "This is an aberrant morph of Bombus impatiens. I was recently discussing this phenomenon with Sydney Cameron; a few species (including impatiens) have mutants that replace normally black hairs with brownish/reddish hairs. It would be good to get this into the BugGuide archives, as mutants like this are rarely documented, and people using field guides will almost inevitably get them wrong."
Ro's struggling with the BugGuide archives entry program as I write this.
