Unusual Bee
This morning in our bathroom I found a bee on the mat. The bee was alive although a little docile almost taking time for a wash. I grabbed a glass that had some water in and emptied it, gave it a quick wipe and then grab a piece of card. I scooped the bee up and decided it would be good to show LCJ before letting it go. Once I picked it up I noticed that it was a little unusual with a completely black body with orange thighs and a very slight orange tip of the abdomen. My first thought was a red tailed bumblebee but now that I have looked at a few pictures I am not so sure. I took a few shots but due to the thickness of the glass plus the amount of movement of the bee I only got some very rough one. I have included two here:
After research I suspect it might be a Red Shanked Carder Bumblebee (Bombus ruderarius) which is fairly scarce in the UK instead of the more common Red Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). They seem to be distinguished by the Red Shanked one having red hairs on the hind legs where the red tailed one has black legs.
Tags: Bathroom, Bee, Bumblebee, carder, house, insect
Could that be pollen giving the back legs their red/orange appearance?
No definitely not pollen we checked it very carefully before it was captured and after it was in the glass, it has punk orange hairs on its rear legs:-)