Bombus impatiens

Females have a mostly pale yellow thorax and first abdominal segment, with some black hairs mixed in between the wing bases.

Only the first abdominal segment is yellow; all the remaining segments are black.

Queens are 17 to 21 mm long, males 12 to 17 mm and workers 8.5 to 16 mm.

It is one of the most widespread and abundant bumble bees in the eastern United States and adjacent Canada.

Having been developed as a managed commercial pollinator, it has been exported to several Canadian provinces outside its native range of southern Ontario and Quebec.

It is now established beyond its natural range in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia.

A colony can grow to several hundred individuals by the autumn.

Colonies are annual and each is founded by a single queen.

In Wisconsin, workers are seen from May to October, and new queens and males from July to October.

Colonies nest underground, and the entry tunnels can run from about 18 inches to 9 feet deep.

Its food plants include thistles, Eupatorium, Gelsemium, goldenrods and pickerel weeds.

Of the five bumble bee species reared for crop pollination, the two major ones are Bombus terrestris from Eurasia and Bombus impatiens from North America.

An assessment completed in December 2014 by the IUCN Bumble Bee Specialist Group gave it a preliminary category of Least Concern, finding no declines in its range, persistence or relative abundance.

While a number of bumble bee species in Wisconsin have declined over the past 30 years, this species has stayed stable or perhaps even increased in abundance; this is thought to be because it can withstand agricultural landscapes and disturbance.