A bumblebee is an insect that is commonly called a bittern. Meanwhile, a bittern is an insect that belongs to the same family as… flies. The bumblebee, on the other hand, belongs to the bee family and is as useful as they are. Check what a bumblebee looks like, how it differs from a bittern, whether a bumblebee stings and what the symptoms of a sting may be.
Bumblebeeand similar bumblebees are classified to the genus Bombus - social insects from the bee family. Bumblebee is found in virtually every continent, with the exception of parts of Africa and the Indian lowlands. They live in fields, meadows and orchards.
There are over 300 species of bumblebees in the world, and as many as 29 of them have been registered in Poland. The most famous are the earth bumblebee, field bumblebee, forest bumblebee, meadow bumblebee and stone bumblebee.
Contents:
- Bumblebee - what does it look like?
- Bumblebee - did they sting?
- Bumblebee and bittern - differences
- Bumblebees are useful
- Bumblebees - there are fewer and fewer of them
Bumblebee - what does it look like?
It can be said that the bumblebee is a really large (up to 30 mm long), stocky and very densely hairy bee with a black color.
It has wide, transverse stripes in shades of yellow or orange and two pairs of transparent wings.
Bumblebees usually live underground, in rodent burrows. It also happens that they build their habitats on their own from dried mosses and grasses.
Bumblebees live in colonies of several dozen to several hundred individuals.
Bumblebee - did they sting?
Bumblebees attack relatively rarely, actually only in self-defense. However, once a bumblebee sting does occur, it is painful.
The name "bumblebee" comes from the Proto-Slavic language and means "to cause pain, to compress."
Bumblebees are much less aggressive than bees and their venom contains less harmful substances than bee venom. The sting has no hooked endings and does not stay in the human skin after being stung.
Most people, however, develop swelling after a sting, but people allergic to the venom may develop a life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
- Stinging by a bee or wasp - how to give first aid?
- How to protect yourself from biting INSECTS?
- Ants - are they dangerous to humans? Which of them bite?
Bumblebee and bittern - differences
Bumblebee is very often mistakenly called a bittern. Meanwhile, bittern is … a species of fly. Bovine bittern (Tabanus bovinus), because we are talking about it, belongs to the order of flies.
Bąk looks like a housefly, but it is much bigger than it. His eyes are green, his torso is covered with yellow hair and summers, buzzing loudly.
Female farts feed on blood. Their pricks are painful, a large blister remains on the skin that can itch for several days. Bitterns can be found especially in the vicinity of pastures and water reservoirs, especially boggy ones, where females lay their eggs.
Therefore, the bittern cannot be mistaken for a bumblebee, but it can be mistaken for a horse fly.
Bumblebees are useful
Bumblebees and honey bees are the most important pollinating insects in our climate zone. Bumblebees play a very important role in the agricultural economy.
Thanks to bumblebees, many species of arable, greenhouse and field plants, as well as wild plants, are pollinated. Bumblebees are most often used to pollinate tomato crops under cover.
Bumblebees have a much longer tongue than honey bees, which allows them to pollinate flowers with a very long crown tube without damaging them. These insects collect little pollen from the plant, so they must visit more of them.
Bumblebees have a distinctive pollination system, called vibration pollination, which is perfect for pollinating many plant species (e.g. highbush blueberry).
Due to the loud humming they make when moving their wings, bumblebees create a lot of vibration on the flowers they pollinate. It is just under the influence of vibrations that pollen is poured out of the anthers.
However, bumblebees, unlike bees, do not produce honey.
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See the gallery of 9 photosWorth knowing
There are special bumblebee farms aimed at selling them for pollination of greenhouse plants (tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, eggplants, blueberries, etc.). The plant grower can purchase bumblebees and keep them in special hives that provide conditions and food for the bumblebees for a specified period of time.
They are also equipped with inlet and outlet openings, enabling the complete catching of bumblebees within a few hours, e.g. for the planned spraying of plants.
In each hive there is a queen and a certain number of workers (depending on its specificity). Pricebumblebee starts at PLN 120 and grows depending on the size of the family.
Bumblebees - there are fewer and fewer of them
In the 1950s, bumblebees could be found in swarms. However, over the years, these insects become less and less. Bumblebees and other bee insects are very sensitive to environmental changes.
The sudden decline in these individuals is also associated with the mass extinction syndrome of pollinators (CCD).
The Red List of Endangered and Endangered Animals includes 19 out of 29 bumblebee species living in Poland.
The main cause of the extinction of bumblebees is the negative effects of pesticides, which can cause neurological disorders in them, thereby damaging their navigation system.
Large-scale agriculture also has a major impact on the sharp decline in the number of bumblebees. Bumblebees are deprived of nectaracterial plants and places to establish colonies. The sudden decline in the number of bumblebees has enormous consequences. Too small number of these specimens contributed to the reduction of the sowing yields of clover and alfalfa below the profitability threshold.
- The mystery of the disappearing bees
About the authorWeronika RumińskaA graduate of Polish philology with an editorial and publishing specialization at the University of Warsaw. She developed her interests related to the editor's work already during her master's studies, actively cooperating with Poradnikzdrowie.pl on the editorial path and social media. Privately, a lover of good crime fiction and horse riding.
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