Abstract
Bumblebees are important pollinating insects, but many species have suffered declines over the last century. Long-tongued bumblebees have been identified as particularly at risk, partly due to their more selective diet. Attempts to study these species in captivity have been impeded by stress-induced behaviours which cause queens to kill or abandon their brood. Here, we attempt to further develop techniques, using queen pairing and Bombus terrestris cocoons, to successfully rear two common long-tongued bumblebee species (B. pascuorum and B. hortorum) in captivity. Approximately half of queens laid eggs and 29% produced workers. Although challenges remain, there is a great deal to be gained from optimising the captive rearing of these species.
Highlights
Bumblebees (Bombus spp. ) are ecologically and economically important pollinating insects, but many species have suffered severe declines in recent decades across Europe and North America (Williams and Osborne 2009; Goulson et al 2015)
A small number of studies have succeeded in rearing bumblebee species other than B. terrestris or B. impatiens in captivity
Lhomme et al (2013) provided the first precise protocol for rearing two cuckoo species, B. vestalis and B. sylvestris and Moerman et al (2016) showed differential responses to pollen diet between B. terrestris, B. pratorum and B. hypnorum micro-colonies reared in captivity
Summary
Bumblebees (Bombus spp. ) are ecologically and economically important pollinating insects, but many species have suffered severe declines in recent decades across Europe and North America (Williams and Osborne 2009; Goulson et al 2015). Queens generally perform stress-induced behaviours (Pomeroy and Plowright 1979; Weidenmüller et al 2002), including failure to settle in nest boxes provided, failure to utilise pollen, neglecting eggs and larvae and direct ovicide or infanticide, resulting in early colony failure Rearing conditions, such as nest box design and pollen type, have a substantial effect on the health and reproductive success of bumblebees reared in captivity. Queens of B. hortorum were more likely to establish an egg cell when kept alone (100%, n = 9), compared with those who were paired (66%, n = 6) or who had been given a honey bee worker (71%, n = 7) (Bučánková and Ptáček 2012) These various interspecific combinations have yielded contrasting results, from cohabitation to killing, but many of the observations are based on a very small number of individuals, making species-level assessments and progress difficult. We attempt to further develop techniques in longtongued bumblebee rearing with two common long-tongued species, B. pascuorum and B. hortorum , under laboratory conditions
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