Abundance, morphology and host plants of bumblebees, Bombus spp. in the coastal region of Syria

Abstract EN

The study was carried out during the period between 2009 and 2010 in the coastal region of Syria, Lattakia and Tartus.

A total of 344 individuals of bumblebees were collected, 127 individuals in 2009 and 217 individuals in 2010 at 8 sites.

The collected samples were classified depending on six morphological characters; head width (HW), head length (HL), marginal cell length (ML) of the fore wing, wing length (WL), tongue length (TL) and pollen basket length (PBL).

Host plants of the selected species were identified and divided into three levels according to their length.

In this study, two species of bumblebees were identified, Bombus terrestris L.

and Bombus argillaceus Scopoli.

Among these species, B.

terrestris was the most abundant.

Regarding the activity of bumblebees, B.

terrestris was active from February, where the queens were observed, until July, and then overwintered (Diapause), while B.

argillaceus activity extended from March until July.

Morphometric of the collected species B.

terrestris were 20.05±0.003 mm, 15.32±0.23 mm and 16.18 ±0.11mm for the queen, the worker and the male, respectively.

The study showed that B.

terrestris and B.

argillaceus are hosted by 23 and 6 plant species, respectively, belonging to several plant families and on three plant levels.