Bumble Bee

Learn About the Bumble Bee

Description Bumble bees are members of the superfamily Apoidea. Bees form a large group of insects that are specialized for feeding at flowers and gathering honey and pollen. More than 3,500 species occur in North America. Bees, 1/8-1" (4-25 mm) long, may be black, brown, or banded with white, yellow, or orange. In many species the tongue is long and pointed, adapted for probing into flowers.

• All bees are covered with branched or feathery hair but some have more hair than others. When a bee visits a flower, pollen sticks to the hair. Most female bees have a pollen-collecting apparatus; males do not collect pollen and lack this structure. In most species the pollen is combed into a special pollen basket or brush, which is usually located on the hind leg. In leafcutting bees, the pollen is carried in a brush of hair on the underside of the abdomen.