o .eg an Jo of En1tomol0lD' - Norsk entomologisk forening

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The effect of latitude on colony size in Bombus monticola Smith and B. lapponicus (Fabricius) (Hym., Apidae). PATRICIA E. YALDEN Yalden, P.E. 1982. The effect of latitude on colony size in Bombus monticola Smith and B. lapponicus (Fabricius) (Hym., Apidae). Fauna norv. Ser. B. 29,72-73. Svensson (I 979) suggested that small colony size of B. monticola and B. lapponicus in northern Sweden, was the result of the severe climate at the altitude at which the nests were found. Studies in the Peak District, England, indicate that a more northerly latitude, rather than altitude, may be a factor limiting colony size. Patricia E. Yalden, Zoology Departement, Manchester University, Oxford Road, Manchester, MI3 9 PL England. INTRODUCTION B. monticola Smith and B. lapponicus (Fabricius) are recorded as forming small colonies (L0ken 1973, Svensson 1979). Reinig (I965) records a colony of B. lapponieus from northern Norway (Malselv: Andsfjell, latitude 69°N) which contained only «about two dozen cocoons». Svensson and Lundberg (1977), working in northern Sweden (Abisko, latitude 68°N), found 11 B. lapponicus nests containing from 17 to 61 (mean 30.5) cocoons. In the same region they also found nests of B. montieola ( = B. scandinavieus) and B. lucorum (L.) containing 103 and 113 cocoons respectively. All these nests were considered to be fairly small. Sladen (1912) and Alford (I 975) record B. lucorum as having populous colonies of 200 plus workers. This fact, coupled with the relatively small size of the single B. lueorum nest that he found, led Svensson (I979) to suggest, that the climate of a mountainous habitat limits colony size. He felt that what had previously been thought of as a characteristic of B. lapponicus and B. montieola, i.e. small colony size, was in fact the effect of climate. Work in the Peak District, England, has yielded some more information on this topic. RESULTS During a study of bumblebees from 1977 to 1981 in the Peak District, latitude 53oN, several nests were found. Five that were undamaged were excavated at the end of summer and their sizes are recorded in Table 1. In England B. montieola can form very large 72 nests; the mean number of cocoons per nest for B. monticola was 182.6 and for B. lucorum was 208.5. B. lucorum is reputed to be a large colony' builder (Sladen 1912, Alford 1,,975). The mean size ofthe Swedish nests was 36.5 for the subgenus Pyrobombus and 113 for B. lucorum (Table 1). Thus the average size of the English nests was larger than the Swedish nests. The altitudes at which the English B. lucorum nests were found (350 m and 380 m) are very si: rnilar to that of the B. lucorum nest (375 m) found by Svensson & Lundberg (1977). The larger mean size of the English nests suggests that in this case altitude alone is not important in determining nest size. DISCUSSION Bumblebee nests are difficult to fmd and the small sample could have produced misleading results as there was considerable variation in nest size within a species and also, because nest size had to be compared between subgenera rather than species. The Swedish B. monticola nest was much larger than the B. lapponicus nests found in the same area which throws doubt upon the validity of comparing taxa above the species level. Colony size could also be underestimated if nests were excavated before reaching maximum size or if cocoons had been destroyed. Notwithstanding these reservations, the Peak District nests are larger than the Swedish nests; this suggests that a more northerly latitude limits bumblebee size. This is not surprising as the length of the flowering season, and thus the bumblebees' active period, is curtailed further Fauna norv. SeT. B 29: 72-73. Oslo 1982.
Table I. Bumblebee nests from two different latitudes. Data from Sweden, Svensson & Lundberg (J 977). Date, date on which nests excavated; altitude, altitude at which nests found; no: cocoons, number of cocoons in each nest. B. lapponicus from II nests, all other results from single nests. Peak District, England, latitude 53 N. Abisko, Sweden, latitude 68 N. Species date altitude no: mean no: date altitude no: mean no: cocoons cocoons cocoons cocoons B. monticola 19.9.77 380 m 144 12.7.75 675 m 103 B. monticola 24.8.80 365 m 323 182.6 B. monticola 23.8.80 305 m 81 J 36.5 B. lapponicus Does not occur in Britain. 16 July-13 Aug 1972-1975 380-950 m 17-61 B.lucorum 27.8.79 350 m 126 B.lucorum 19.9.81 380 m 291 } 208.6 9.8.73 375 m 113 113 north. L0ken (1973) records the flight season for B. lapponicus from the beginning of May until September in Scandinavia but Svensson (1979) found that in northern Sweden B. lapponicus and B. monticola have very reduced active periods of less than 2 months. In contrast, in the Peak District, England, B. monticola queens are flying in mid April during a warm Spring, and some workers are still active at the end of September. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .I should like to thank the Staffordshire Naturalists' Trust and the Peak Park Planning Board for access to th.eir land, Professor E.R. Trueman for providing laboratory facilities and Drs. R.R. • Askew and D.W. Yalden for their advice on the preparation of this manuscript. REFERENCES Alford, D.V. 1975. Bumblebees. Davis-Poynter Ltd. London. L0ken, A. 1973. Studies on Scandinavian bumblebeen (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Norsk ent. Tidsskr. 20, 1-218. Reining W.F. 1965. Die Verbreitungsgeschichte zweier fur die Apenninen neuer boreoalpine Hummelarten mit einem Versuch der Gleiderung boreoalpiner Verkreitungsformen. Zool. lb. Syst. 93, 103-142. Sladen, F.W.L. 1912. The Humble-bee, its life history and how to domesticate it. Macmillan & Co. London. Svensson, B.G. 1979. Pyrobombus lapponicus auet., in Europe recognised as two species: P. lapponicus (Fabricius 1793) and P. monticola (Smith 1849) (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Bombinae). Ent. scand. 10, 275-296. Svensson, B.G. & Lundberg, H. 1977. Distribution of bumblebee nests in a subalpine/alpine area in relation to altitude and habitat. Zoon 5, 63 -72. Received 28 Dec. 1981. 73
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Page 3 and 4: Carabidae and Staphylinidae (Col.)
Page 5 and 6: Table l. Mean activity density, giv
Page 7 and 8: JEU'lY As SKI Activity Species 1975
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Page 21 and 22: Table 2. The abudance (number per 0
Page 23 and 24: Records of nine species of Ophionin
Page 25: 1972, 4Q Q, 4-15 Oct. 1972, 2Q Q, R
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Page 39 and 40: Some studies on Macrolepidoptera in
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Page 43 and 44: Table 2. Relative abundance ( + , +
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Page 47 and 48: Table. 4. Additional Macrolepidopte
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Page 55 and 56: Table 6. Sex ratio and median day o
Page 57 and 58: Ematurga atomaria. Other species of
Page 59 and 60: Survey of the Pine Beauty Moth Pano
Page 61 and 62: Fig. 2. Trap model. (Copied from Bo
Page 63 and 64: the results indicate certain differ
Page 65 and 66: terestingly, the lepidopterous host
Page 67 and 68: Material: Raubekken 900 m I Q 17 Ju
Page 69 and 70: Chironomidae (Dipt.) from Ekse, Wes
Page 71 and 72: SYSTEMATIC LIST Podonominae Parochl
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Page 75 and 76: Edwards, F.W. 1922. Results of the
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In the species-list previously publ
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GUIDE TO AUTHORS. FAUNA NORVEGICA S
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