#3536 · 🐝 bees, wasps & ants

Vestal Cuckoo Bumble bee

🇳🇱 Grote koekoekshommel ·Bombus vestalis

🐝 Bees, wasps & ants 📍 in the Netherlands

7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

Bombus vestalis , the vestal cuckoo bumblebee , is a species of cuckoo bumblebee that lives in most of Europe, as well as North Africa and western Asia. It is a brood parasite that takes over the nests of other bee species. Its primary host is Bombus terrestris (the buff-tailed bumblebee). After its initial classification as Psithyrus vestalis , this bumblebee recently was reclassified into the genus Bombus , subgenus Psithyrus .

base stats

NL sightings 159iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 7,844iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 159 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #34 most seen of the bees, wasps & ants in NL.
7,844 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Étienne Louis Geoffroy in 1785 (241 years ago).