Bombus cullumanus—an extinct European bumblebee species?

Abstract

-Bombus cullumanus s. str. has attracted some of the greatest conservation concerns among bumblebees in Europe because it might now be extinct. However, there has been long-standing disagreement about whether it is conspecific with other eastern pale-banded bumblebees. We investigate these relationships using new data from DNA (COI) barcodes. The results support a Nearctic rufocinctus-group (Bombus rufocinctus) and a Palaearctic cullumanus-group, the latter with just three species: Bombus semenoviellus, Bombus unicus and B. cullumanus s. l. (including several differently coloured taxa). We conclude that, although any persisting B. cullumanus cullumanus s. str. might be a regional conservation priority within Europe, nevertheless, because the species remains common elsewhere within its range in Asia, globally a higher conservation priority should be given to B. unicus, which is genetically more distinct and appears to have a much smaller population in the Russian Far East.bumblebee / Bombus / barcode / taxonomy / conservation

Methods for species delimitation in bumblebees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus): towards an integrative approach

“…; Williams et al . ). Nevertheless, the erzurumensis displays specific COI haplotypes while cazurroi shares its haplotypes with other B. sichelii taxa.…”

Climatic Risk and Distribution Atlas of European Bumblebees

“…Recent evidence from COI barcodes and male species identification secretions is consistent with the three taxa being part of a single species Williams et al, 2013). We used this new lumped taxonomic status in our analyses.…”

“…As long ago as the early 1970's, many entomologists pointed out the decline of bumblebee species in Europe (Peters, 1972;Williams, 1982;Rasmont & Mersch, 1988;Williams et al, 1991Williams et al, , 2007Williams et al, , 2013Goulson et al, 2005Goulson et al, , 2008bBiesmeijer et al, 2006;Kosior et al, 2007;Williams & Osborne, 2009;Carvalheiro et al, 2013). Thank to the advances in the study of bumblebee biogeography, and to the sharing of long-term datasets, the comparison of the past and current European bumblebee fauna has revealed the scale of the problem (Rasmont & Iserbyt, 2014).…”

BumbleKey: an interactive key for the identification of bumblebees of Italy and Corsica (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

“…The single published record of B.magnus Vogt and the two records of B.distinguendus Morawitz are based on misidentifications. Bombusxanthopus Kriechbaumer and B.renardi Radoszkowski, traditionally considered as Corsican subspecies of B.terrestris (Linnaeus) and B.lucorum (Linnaeus) respectively (Estoup et al 1996, Williams et al 2012, Lecocq et al 2013, Williams 2018), are here treated at rank of species according to Lecocq et al (2015).…”

“…The genus Bombus Latreille, 1802 includes around 260 species of eusocial bees, mostly distributed in temperate and cold regions of the northern hemisphere (Williams 2018). Of the 70 European species, 45 have been recorded from Italy and Corsica (Rasmont 1983, Intoppa et al 1995, Rasmont and Adamski 1995, Rasmont and Iserbyt 2010–2013, Lecocq et al 2015).…”