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Bombus impatiens

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Populus deltoides

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Trifolium repens

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Centaurea stoebe

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Medicago lupulina

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Euodynerus foraminatus

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Silene vulgaris

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Daucus carota

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Harmonia axyridis

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Cornus sericea

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The common eastern bumble bee can be found on the east coast through to Florida, and west to Ohio. It is usually found in suburban or urban areas or farmlands.

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Eastern cottonwood grows along streams and rivers, and can be found from Southern Quebec to Texas.

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White clover occurs throughout the US, especially in grassy areas that are subject to frequent mowing or grazing.

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Spotted knapweed is mostly found in disturbed areas and in dry, loose soil. It is native to Eurasia but has established itself in the Midwest.

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Black Medick is nonnative and usually occurs in waste places, riparian areas, and disturbed places.

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Bumblebees are important pollinators for plants that feed other animals. The bees themselves are also a source of food for many birds and mammals in the area.

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Pitted mason wasps can be found across the US and southern Canada. They build homes in existing hollow cavities such as hollow twigs and abandoned carpenter bee tunnels.

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Eastern Cottonwoods are sources of food for many animals, and usually used to provide shade in suburban areas.

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Bladder campion is usually found along streams and in disturbed or tilled soil across the U.S.

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These flowers are an important source of food for many types of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Mammals such as the American Black Bear also eat the foliage and flowers.

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Wild carrot can be found in sunny and well-drained areas across the US.

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This flower is poisonous and creates areas where only spotted knapweed can grow. Some animals, such as cows, can eat knapweed and be unharmed, but for the most part it is inedible to most animals.

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Asian lady beetles are native to, surprise, Asia. They can, however, be found throughout North America and parts of Europe. They are found in a lot of areas, from rural to urban.

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This can be eaten by animals such as woodchucks and deer when found in the wild.

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These wasps are important pollinators of food plants for many animals.

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Red osier dogwood thrives in riparian areas across the US, except in the southern Great Plains region and the southeast.

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Bladder campion is edible to many mammals, including humans. Its leaves are sweet and the flowers are also edible.

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Wild carrot plant is very important as a food source for many creatures, especially pollinators such as bees.

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These beetles are eaten by many other creatures such as birds and mammals. The beetles consume fruits, leaves, smaller aphids, and other lady beetle larvae.

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Common Eastern Bumble Bee

Bombus impatiens

Status: Not Listed

Classification: Invertebrate

Description

The first reaction most people have when they see a bumble bee is fear. It's painful and unpleasant to get stung by a bee, and some people have allergic reactions to the sting. But the next time you see a bumble bee, remember that although they sting, bumble bees are one of the most beneficial animals in nature, and they make our lives better every day.

The common eastern bumble bee is a pollinator of flowers and numerous fruit and vegetable crops, including tomatoes, blueberries, and cucumbers. Bumble bees have fur all over their bodies; these hairs collect and trap pollen, which the bees carry from one bloom to another.

The common eastern bumble bee has black hairs on its head, abdomen, and legs. The center of its body, between the first two sets of legs, is called the thorax. On the common eastern bumble bee, the thorax is yellow.

Range

The common eastern bumble bee can be found throughout the east coast from Maine to Florida and west through Ohio. It's often seen flying through the air in spring and summer near gardens, farms, and backyards. Their nests are located in woodlands and fields. Bumble bees are important food sources for other wildlife.

Diet

Bumble bees are pollinators, animals that move from plant to plant while searching for protein-rich pollen or high-energy nectar to eat. As they go, they are dusted by pollen and move it to the next flower, fertilizing the plant and allowing it to reproduce and form seeds, berries, fruits, and other plant foods that form the foundation of the food chain for other species-including humans.

Life History

Common eastern bumble bees are social insects that live in colonies. Newly mated queen bees hibernate over the winter, then emerge in early spring and begin searching for a nest site. Bumble bees have annual nests that usually contain 300 to 500 individuals. Worker bees develop first, followed by males and new queens toward the end of summer. In the fall, worker bees, males, and the old queen die.

Conservation

Pollinators worldwide are in decline. Habitat loss, invasive species, parasites, and pesticides are largely to blame. The National Wildlife Federation has worked for many years to advocate for public policy and federal legislation that improves protection for America's remaining native grasslands. These important habitats provide the milkweed needed by monarch butterflies, as well as many other flowering plants that are important to pollinators. However, native grasslands are disappearing faster than any other ecosystem in North America.

The National Wildlife Federation is working to help protect the less than 10 percent of native grasslands that remains. There are several ways for people to get involved with helping pollinators, including creating a sustainable garden that helps wildlife.

Fun Fact

The common eastern bumble bee is so successful at pollinating fruit that it's been introduced in the western U.S and overseas to help in crop harvests. The success of these programs is still being determined, as well as the harm that can be caused by releasing a non-native species.

Sources

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

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Common Eastern Bumble Bee | National Wildlife Federation

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Bombus impatiens Status: Not Listed Classification: Invertebrate Description The first reaction most people have when they see a bumble bee is fear. It's painful and unpleasant to get stung by a bee, and some people have allergic reactions to the sting.

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Many birds consume these ripe berries, such as thrush and warbling vireos.

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Description:
This herbaceous perennial plant is about 6″ tall, branching from the
base. Initially, it produces several compound leaves from a short stem
that grows only a little, after which this stem rapidly elongates and
becomes up to 1′ long. These elongated stems sprawl along the ground
and have the capacity to root at the nodes. They are hairless and light
green. The alternate compound leaves are trifoliate and hairless. They
occur at intervals along the elongated stems and have long hairless
petioles. The leaflets are obovate or ovate. Their margins are finely
serrate. Across the upper surface of each leaflet are white markings in
the form of a chevron (an upside down “V”), although for this species
these markings are often degenerate, irregular, or absent. Each leaflet
is about ¾” long and about half as wide. At the base of each petiole
there are a pair of small lanceolate stipules that are light green and
membranous; sometimes they wrap around the elongated stems. Each
stipule is less than ½” in length.

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Spotted Knapweed

(Centaurea stoebe)
*Established in Michigan*
Photo courtesy of Michael Shephard, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org.
Photo courtesy of Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org.
Photo courtesy of Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org. Identification:

An herbaceous, bushy, perennial plant growing 2-3 feet.

Elongated, bluish- or grayish-green leaves divided into lance-shaped lobes.

Pinkish-purple flowers are thistle-like and bloom from July through September.

Long, stout tap-root can send shoots to start new plants.

Seeds are carried on fine, white tufts emerging from the flower base.

Habitat: Often found in open fields or scrub-shrub areas with poor soils or sands and also in disturbed areas, hay fields and pastures.

Native Range: Eurasia.

U. S. Distribution: Throughout most of the U.S. and Canada.

Local Concern: Spotted knapweed is poisonous to other plants, creating barren areas where only knapweed grows. It is a threat to pastures and dry ecosystems including prairies and dunes. Can be a skin irritant.
MORE INFORMATION: Spotted Knapweed Invasive Species Alert - Printable PDF

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(Centaurea stoebe) A bushy, perennial plant growing 2-3 feet with bluish- or grayish-green leaves and thistle-like pinkish-purple flowers.

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Pitted mason wasp is a common, small, solitary wasp. It occurs across the United States and southern Canada, where it is common east of the Great Plains, uncommon in the west. It is the most common species in the east except at northern localities, and the most common Euodynerus species collected in bee blocks by the Minnesota Bee Atlas.

Adults are black with yellow markings. The front part of the body (mesosoma) is connected to the rear part (metasoma) by a narrow waist that is not elongated petiole-like. Wasp size is often given in terms of the length of the forewing. The female forewing length is ¼ ″ to 7⁄16 ″ (7.0 to 10.5 mm), the male forewing length is ¼ ″ to ⅜ ″ (6 to 9 mm).

On the female the head is black. There are two large compound eyes, one on each side of the head, and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle at the top of the head between the compound eyes. The inner margin of each compound eye is deeply notched. The antennae are thread-like and have 12 segments, including a long first segment (scape) at the base, a short second segment (pedicel), and a whip-like section (flagellum) with 10 segments (flagellomeres). The scape is black above, bright yellow below. The first flagellomere is at least 1.3 times as long as the second. The last flagellomere is not hooked at the tip. The plate on the face (clypeus) is strongly convex on the lower margin. It is black with a yellow crescent-shaped band on the upper margin that is sometimes broken into two narrowly separated spots. The cheeks (genae) narrow toward the bottom, tapering nearly to a point. The jaws (mandibles) are long and knife-like. The upperside of each mandible is yellow near the base. There is a yellow spot between the antennae bases and a small yellow spot behind each compound eye.

The thorax is black and has three segments, the prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax. However, the first segment of the abdomen (propodeum) is fused to the thorax, giving the thorax the appearance of having four segments. The upper plate on the prothorax (pronotum) is short and collar-like. It has a narrow transverse ridge (carina) on the front margin. It extends rearward on the sides to the plate at the base of each wing (tegula). It appears horseshoe-shaped when viewed from above, triangular when viewed from the side. It is mostly black except for a yellow band on the front margin of the upper surface. The band narrows toward the middle and is narrowly interrupted in the middle. The rear face of the pronotum does not have a pair of pits in the middle. On the mesothorax, the large front plate (scutum) is black with no yellow markings. The scutum has two small projections at the rear corners called parategula, a feature common to all potter or mason wasps (family Eumeninae). The parategulae are yellow. The smaller rear plate (scutellum) has a pair of rectangular, narrowly separated, yellow spots. The upper surface of the metathorax is entirely black, with no yellow markings. The propodeum has a very prominent transverse ridge (submarginal carina). The valve on the propodeum (propodeal valvula) is fused to the submarginal carina. The tegulae are yellow, and there is a small yellow spot on the side of the thorax below each wing base.

The metasoma has six segments (tergites). The first tergite is wider than long and no more than 1.4 times as long as the second tergite. It does not have a transverse carina. It is black with a yellow band at the rear. The band is narrowly notched in the middle, but it is complete, not interrupted. The second tergite is wider than the first almost as long as the remaining tergites combined. It has a yellow band at the rear. It does not have a small yellow spot on each side. The third through fifth tergites have a complete narrow yellow band at the rear. The sixth tergite is entirely black. Tergites 2 through 4 are coarsely, deeply, and densely pitted (punctate). The rear half of the metanotum is shiny, despite the punctation.

The wings are pale smoky brown with purplish reflections. The forewing has three submarginal cells. The media vein (M) is nearly straight or very slightly angled at the base of the second submarginal cell.

The legs are black and yellow. On each leg the third segment (femur) is mostly black, yellow just at the tip above, and yellow on the outer half below. The fourth segment (tibia) is entirely yellow. The tibiae on the middle leg has a single spur at the tip. The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has five segments. They are yellow except for the last segment, which is black. There is a pair of claws at the tip of each tarsus. The claws are split (cleft) at the end.

The male is similar but slightly smaller. The antennae have 13 segments. The flagellum is hooked at the tip, and the last flagellomere is stout. The clypeus is entirely yellow. The parategulae are almost always yellow. The rear part of the body has seven visible segments. The sixth tergite also has an uninterrupted yellow band at the rear margin. On the front legs, the femur has erect hairs above and below.

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pitted mason wasp (Euodynerus foraminatus) profile, photos, videos, county distribution map, and sightings in Minnesota.

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Montana Field Guide contains a wealth of information about Montana’s diverse species.

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Wild Carrot Daucus carota - Weed Gallery - UC Statewide IPM Program

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Asian Lady Beetle | Vermont Atlas of Life

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Discovering and Sharing Biodiversity Knowledge

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Thousands of wildflowers grow on our national forests and grasslands, in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Celebrating Wildflowers periodically features a different wildflower plant found on our national forests and grasslands.