Gypsy Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Bombus bohemicus
The declining Gypsy Cuckoo Bumble Bee was once common in Canada but was listed in 2018 as an Endangered species. The most recent PEI specimen was collected in 1983, with earlier records from the 1970s and 1980s from Riverdale, Charlottetown, Cornwall and Vernon River. Of 1306 bumble bees noted on PEI from 2004-2013, none were of this species. The Gypsy Cuckoo Bumble Bee is a social parasite and does not have typical colonies of workers like other bumble bees. Mated females emerge in the spring and look for potential host nests. The female kills or subdues the host queen and lays eggs that the host colony workers tend.
Primary threats to this species include the decline of host Yellow-Banded Bumble Bees. Pesticide use and the escape of non-native, pathogen-infected bumble bees from commercial greenhouses are also threats. Greenhouse bumblebees like the common Eastern Bumble Bee are often released outside at end of the hothouse growing season, and studies elsewhere have shown they may carry pathogens that infect native bees.