The Bumble Bees of Ukraine: Species Distribution and Floral Preferences

Irene B Konovalova

doi:10.1155/2010/819740

Abstract

The bumble bees were studied in Ukraine between 2002 and 2009 under field conditions, by examining historical and recent collections and by the literature data. Forty one species are reported from the whole territory, 32 of them being recorded from the forest-steppe zone. Ten species are rare in all their habitats:B. confusus,B. distinguendus,B. fragrans,B. gerstaeckeri,B. ruderatus,B. armeniacus,B. mesomelas,B. laesus,B. veteranus, andB. cullumanus. The present persistence of the steppe speciesB. armeniacus,B. laesus, andB. cullumanusis restricted to the eastern part of the country, andB. fragrans—to the Crimean Peninsula. The information on distribution, abundance, habitat, and floral preferences of bumble bees is also provided.

Highlights

It is rather strange that at present so little is known in the World about the Ukrainian bumble bees, since the territory of this country lies in the middle of the European continent, bordering Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania in the west, the Republic of Belarus in the north, Russia in the east, and washed by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov in the south
Ten species are rare in all their habitats: B. confusus, B. distinguendus, B. fragrans, B. gerstaeckeri, B. ruderatus, B. armeniacus, B. mesomelas, B. laesus, B. veteranus, and B. cullumanus
The present persistence of the steppe species B. armeniacus, B. laesus, and B. cullumanus is restricted to the eastern part of the country, and B. fragrans—to the Crimean Peninsula

Summary

Introduction

It is rather strange that at present so little is known in the World about the Ukrainian bumble bees, since the territory of this country lies in the middle of the European continent, bordering Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania in the west, the Republic of Belarus in the north, Russia in the east, and washed by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov in the south. In this paper we are going to enrich the knowledge on the bumble bees, which inhabit the vast range of the country landscapes. The history of studies in the Ukrainian bumble bees embraces about 140 years. The historical records of different bumble bee species from the Ukrainian territory can be traced by the collections and the literature [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. For understanding the structure of bumble bee communities and for predicting persistence of any one species in certain habitat types, the distribution of different landscapes in the country should be taken into consideration

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

45 Krasnodar

Ubiquitous