Bombus humilis
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis) 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.
The brown-banded carder bee is medium-sized with a relatively long tongue. The queen is 16–18 mm (0.63–0.71 in) long, the worker 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in). 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 (the reproductive females) and workers usually have a broad, dark brown band (hence the common name) 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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee sighting in London on a given day, based on 51 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 511th most-seen of the 1504 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee in London on a given day, against under 5% in October to April, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee sightings, London ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kharkiv (Ukraine, about 10%), Budapest (Hungary, about 10%) and Vienna (Austria, about 10%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee that you can see in London (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Common Carder Bumble Bee (about 40%), Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 30%) and Early Bumble Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-Banded Carder-Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in London (51 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
