Brown-banded carder bee
The brown-banded carder bee is a bumblebee found in most of Europe west of Russia, with the exception of Ireland and Iceland. It is also found in Turkey, on the Tibetan plateau, northern China, eastern and southern Mongolia, and parts of North Korea. In Britain, it is limited to the coast and chalkland areas of southern England, though the species has also been found in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The brown-banded carder bee is similar in appearance to the moss carder bee. As they share similar habitats, care must be taken to distinguish between the two.
Description
The brown-banded carder bee is medium-sized with a relatively long tongue. The queen is long, the worker.The thorax is usually yellow-orange on top, with beige flanks, but may be dark brown. Most of the abdomen is beige, too, although with a somewhat striped effect. Both queens and workers usually have a broad, dark brown band on the upper side of the abdomen, near the front, although it can be missing on some workers. A few black hairs - may only be one or two – are present on the thorax near the wing-bases. Males are similar to queens, but they lack stings and have longer antennae.