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- Garden bumblebee
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- Bumblebee nest
Garden bumblebee can be found in almost any garden in Russia. He is the closest relative of the honey bee and has no less list of useful properties. They call him that: an earthen bee, indicating his preference in choosing a place for a nest. This bee benefits more than other insects. A garden bumblebee is a real hard worker and friend of any gardener.
Appearance
A hard worker can often be seen in the garden. It is a shaggy insect, very similar in color to a honey bee. The body size of the main female is from 18 to 23 mm in length. Working insects are slightly smaller - 12-16 mm. The smallest members of a bumblebee family are drones. Their body length is about 14 mm. Black and yellow stripes on the body alternate, and the end of the abdomen has a white color.
On a note!
Bumblebees very rarely bite a person, only in extreme circumstances. Drones do not even have a sting and do not pose any threat to others.
The small transparent elongated wings of the striped workers look disproportionately small in comparison with the dimensions of their bodies. But during the flight they make special movements with wings, due to which air turbulences are created, which play the role of lifting force for the insect.
The limbs of an earthen bee are composed of several parts. The hind legs are the largest so-called baskets - bristles for collecting pollen from flowers of plants. It is with this device that an insect transfers pollen from one flower to another, thereby pollinating plants.
Socket device
Bumblebees prefer to build nests in hollows, crevices of houses, but most often in burrows underground. After wintering, the female queen finds a secluded place for her first egg laying, where a nest with a large family subsequently forms - from 100 to 500 individuals.
The nest is usually in the shape of an elongated ball. Partitions between honeycombs drones are built of wax. And working females who do not have the ability to reproduce bring the nectar they have obtained.
On a note!
Recycled bee bread and nectar turn into a well-known product. Produced by them honey It is very appreciated for its useful and tasteful properties.
Spread
Garden bumblebee as a species is distributed practically throughout the continent of Eurasia, covering the following areas:
- Europe;
- Caucasus;
- middle strip of Russia;
- Kazakhstan;
- Eastern Siberia.
The garden worker is found even in the taiga regions of Russia, in Iceland. It tolerates relatively cold summers, it is able to pollinate flowers in rainy weather and in the evening.
Insect benefit
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of having a garden bumblebee in a garden or vegetable garden. He is a pollinator of many plants. Due to its hard work and high productivity, the harvest on the site will always please the summer resident. Therefore, in no case should you try to get rid of bumblebee nests near a vegetable garden or garden.
On a note!
Bumblebee honey in its healing qualities is not inferior to bee. It also has many useful ingredients and is considered even better to taste than bee honey.
The presence of a bumblebee family in a certain territory provides for the absence of wasps there, which tend to bother a person. Garden bumblebees themselves do not feel any interest in a person and will try to avoid close contact with him.
