Bombus cullumanus—an extinct European bumblebee species?

Paul Williams , Alexandr Byvaltsev , Cory Sheffield , Pierre Rasmont

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.

Mots clés: bumblebee; Bombus; barcode; taxonomy; conservation

Domaines: Zoologie des invertébrés; Biodiversité; Ecologie, Environnement; Science des productions animales

Paul Williams, Alexandr Byvaltsev, Cory Sheffield, Pierre Rasmont. Bombus cullumanus—an extinct European bumblebee species?. Apidologie, 2013, 44 (2), pp.121-132. ⟨10.1007/s13592-012-0161-x⟩. ⟨hal-01201277⟩