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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

  • Home - Other Field Guides
    • Kingdom - Animals - Animalia
      • Phylum - Spiders, Insects, and Crustaceans - Arthropoda
        • Class - Insects - Insecta
          • Order - Sawflies / Wasps / Bees / Ants - Hymenoptera
            • Family - Bumble, Honey, Carpenter, Stingless, & Orchid Bees - Apidae
              • Species - California Bumble Bee - Bombus californicus
California Bumble Bee - Bombus californicus
Other Names:  Thoracobombus californicus, Bombus fervidus Complex

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Native Species

Global Rank: G4?Q
State Rank: S5
(see State Rank Reason below)


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 




State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
Species is common, widespread in suitable habitat. It faces no known threats. Trend is unknown.
California Bumble Bee (Bombus californicus) Conservation Status Summary
State Rank: S5
Review Date = 06/19/2025
See the complete Conservation Status Rank Report
How we calculate Conservation Status Ranks
 
General Description
Koch et al. (2018) conducted morphometric and genetic analysis to examine the phylogenetic relationships of Bombus fervidus and Bombus californicus, both of which occur in Montana, and concurred with previous studies that individuals cannot be identified to species based on current taxonomy (i.e., setal color). However, Koch et al. (2018) found: (1) microsatellite genotypes have the capacity to identify two distinct genetic lineages in the Bombus fervidus species complex in areas where the species are broadly sympatric and using the same habitats (including within Montana); (2) sympatric populations within the species complex appear to be phenotypically divergent and reproductively isolated with no evidence of recent introgression (diverging from a common ancestor likely less than ~1 million years ago); and (3) future research evaluating taxonomic characters like wing venation in conjunction with genetic analysis may identify morphological methods for distinguishing between these currently cryptic species.

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 65

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Predicted Suitable Habitat Model

This species has a Predicted Suitable Habitat Model available.

To learn how these Models were created see here


References
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Citation for data on this website:
California Bumble Bee — Bombus californicus.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from