Critically Endangered
Bombus suckleyi
Bombus suckleyi
Bombus suckleyi is a wasp, bee, or ant in the family Apidae (order Hymenoptera), recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
Suckley's bumble bee can be distinguished from other bees based on physical characteristics and coloration. Suckley's bumble bee females are 0.72–0.92 in (18–23 mm) in length and covered in short hair of even length that is black, yellow, or white. Suckley's bumble bee females have variable coloration with black faces and predominately yellow thorax.
Males are slightly smaller than females at 0.51–0.61 in (13–16 mm) in length and their hind legs are convex with few hairs.
Bombus suckleyi was first described by John Greene and named after George Suckley.
Range and habitat
Suckley's bumble bee inhabits western meadows at a wide range of elevations. Historic observations have been most often made at higher elevations meadows within forest or subalpine zones. Quality and quantity of bumble bee habitat varies at a landscape scale and bumble bees routinely forage over relatively large distances of > 1.25 miles (> 2 km) and require approximately 815–2,500 acres (3.3–10 km2) of suitable habitat to sustain viable populations.
It has a NatureServe ranking of G1 or critically imperiled from 2018 and is considered critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Life history
Life history follows the order: complete metamorphosis in moths and beetles, nymphs in grasshoppers and bugs. This page does not invent a host plant that no source named.
In crisis
It has experienced rapid, significant, recent declines, averaging over 77% during the last few decades. Its declines are associated with those of its host species. Multiple threats produce synergistic impacts to this species that make it more vulnerable to decline and extinction.
Suckley's bumble bee and other cuckoo bumble bees are especially at risk of extinction because of their dependence on the success of host species. Suckley's bumble bee was petitioned for federal Endangered Species Act protection in 2020.
Bombus suckleyi is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Bombus suckleyi, Wikidata item Q1853610. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
