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9
Fauna norvegica 2018 Vol. 38: 9-12.
Short communication
First record of
Bombus
(Alpigenobombus)
wurflenii
Radoszkowski, 1860
in the Kola Peninsula, NW Russia
Grigory S. Potapov1, Yulia S. Kolosova1 and Alisa A. Vlasova1
Potapov GS, Kolosova YuS and Vlasova AA. 2018. First record of Bombus (Alpigenobombus) wurf lenii
Radoszkowski, 1860 in the Kola Peninsula, NW Russia. Fauna norvegica 38: 9-12.
In this paper we present the f irst record of Bombus wurf lenii from northern Russia. This species was found
in the southwestern part of the Kola Peninsula, near the town of Kandalaksha in 2016. The nearest confirmed
record of the species is in northern Sweden. In Russia, B. wurf lenii was known earlier but only from southern
Ural. The status of the population of B. wurf lenii in the Kola Peninsula is unknown and needs further research.
doi: 10.5324/fn.v38i0.2341. Received: 2017-09-13. Accepted: 2018-01-13. Published online: 2018 - 01-17.
ISSN: 1891-5396 (electronic).
Keywords: Bombus wurf lenii, European North of Russia, Kola Peninsula, fauna.
1. Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dviny 23, Arkhangelsk 163000,
Russia.
Corresponding author: Grigory S. Potapov
E-mail: grigorij-potapov@yandex.ru
INTRODUCTION
Bombus (Alpigenobombus) wurflenii Radoszkowski, 1860 is
widespread in Europe and is typical of mountain regions of
Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, norther n Spain,
the Balkans, the Caucasus and northern Turkey (Løken 1973;
Reinig & Rasmont 1988; Rasmont & Iserbyt 2010). There is one
old record from northern Finland (Suomussalmi Municipality,
Ruhtinansalmi Village, 30.06.1926, leg. O. Sorsakoski)
(Söderman & Leinonen 2003: 286), but it is doubtful, according
to the opinions of some authors (Söderman & Leinonen 2003;
Rasmont & Iserbyt 2010). In Russia, B. wurf lenii is only known
from southern Ural (Reinig & Rasmont 1988; Rasmont &
Iserbyt 2010). It is included in the Red Book of the Russian
Federation as a species with decreasing number (category 2)
(Panfilov & Berezin 2001).
Until recently, records of B. wurf lenii from the European
North of Russia, and particularly the Kola Peninsula, were not
known. Compared with neighbouring regions (northern parts
of Finland, Norway and Sweden), the bumblebee fauna of the
Kola Peninsula remains insufficiently studied (Potapov et al.
2015). Most of the collected materials have been collected from
the coast of the Barents Sea and from the Khibiny Mountains.
Particularly, the southern part of the region has been poorly
studied. A review of the bumblebee fauna of the Kola Peninsula
and other parts of the Murmansk Region is presented by
Paukkunen & Kozlov (2015).
In this paper, we present the first record of B. wurflenii
from the Kola Peninsula.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Bumblebees were collected in the vicinity of the town of
Kandalaksha, which is located in the southwestern part of
the Kola Peninsula (Figure 1). Bumblebee individuals were
Potapov, Kolosova and Vlasova:
Bombus wurflenii
in the Kola Peninsula
10
Fauna norvegica 38: 9-12. 2018
found near a roadside that runs alongside the coniferous forest
(67°08’43’’N; 32°25’55’’E) on the 26th and 28th of July 2016,
and they were caught with an entomological net on Cirsium
arvense (L.) Scop. The total number of specimens is 6. Three
individuals are workers and three are males.
Bumblebees were identified by using the key from Løken
(1973). The nomenclature follows Williams (2017). Images of the
specimens were taken by using a Leica EZ4D stereomicroscope
(Leica Microsystems GmbH, Germany).
All specimens are deposited in the Russian Museum of the
Biodiversity Hotspots (RMBH), Federal Center for Integrated
Arctic Research (FCIARctic), Russian Academy of Sciences
(RAS), Arkhangelsk, Russia.
The map in Figure 1 was produced by using ArcGIS 10.0
software (Environmental Systems Research Institute, ESRI®).
RESULTS
All of the six specimens of bumblebees belong to B. wurflenii
ssp. brevigena Thompson, 1870 (Reinig & Rasmont 1988;
Söderman & Leinonen 2003). General views of specimens of
worker and male with its genital capsule are shown in Figure
2. This subspecies is dark coloured, while females have black
Figure 1. Map of the study region. The sampling localities from
Kandalaksha (Russia, Murmansk Region) and Scandinavian
countries are shown as a black circles. The unverified localities
from Ruhtinansalmi (Finland) is shown as an open circle.
Figure 2. Morphological patterns of the studied specimens of Bombus wurflenii: general view of worker (a), male (b), and genital capsule
(c). Photo: Grigory Potapov.
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Fauna norvegica 38: 9-12. 2018
Potapov, Kolosova and Vlasova:
Bombus wurflenii
in the Kola Peninsula
thorax and black three first tergites with very slight admixture
of yellow hairs (Løken 1973; Reinig & Rasmont 1988). This
subspecies inhabits Scandinavia. The nominate subspecies
occurs in the Caucasus and northern Turkey (Reinig & Rasmont
1988).
DISCUSSION
To the best of our knowledge, our f inding of B. wurf lenii is the
first for northern Russia. In the Kola Peninsula and other parts
of the Murmansk Region, this species has not been recorded
earlier (Paukkunen & Kozlov 2015; Potapov 2015). This species
has not been found in other regions of northern Russia, i.e.
either Karelia or Arkhangelsk Region (Söderman & Leinonen
2003; Potapov & Kolosova 2016). The nearest confirmed record
of B. wurflenii has been made in northern Sweden (Rasmont &
Iserby t 2010).
If we assume that B. wurf lenii appeared in the Kola
Peninsula recently, the possible migratory pathways of this
species can pass from northern Sweden and Norway through
northern Finland. On the other hand, there is a possibility that
the species has been overlooked in the Murmansk Region. It
is noteworthy that the colouration of workers of B. wurf lenii
bears some resemblance to B. lapidarius L., 1758, and the
colouration of males of this species bears some resemblance
to B. pratorum L., 1761. However, B. lapidarius is unknown
from the Murmansk Region and northern Karelia (Rasmont
& Iserbyt 2010). B. pratorum and B. wurf lenii have distinctly
different male genitalia (Løken 1973), hence it is unlikely that
these species would be wrongly identified. Some authors, who
based their f indings on large collections and summarised the
materials of the bumblebee fauna for the different districts of
the Murmansk Region, have never recorded B. wurf lenii in the
region (Potapov 2015; Paukkunen & Kozlov 2015). It is more
likely that the finding of B. wurflenii is caused by insufficient
knowledge of the bumblebee fauna in the Murmansk Region.
In support of the first assumption, it is noteworthy that
in recent decades some bumblebee species have expanded
their distribution northwards in Fennoscandia (Martinet et al.
2015). With respect to B. lapidarius (Linnaeus, 1758) and B.
terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758), both species dispersed to the North
above latitude 68°N (Martinet et al. 2015). Also, B. wurf lenii
has expanded its distribution in Scandinavia, and “now occurs
200 km north of its 1973 limits”, which is above latitude 69°N
(Martinet et al. 2015: 305). The eastwards expansion of B.
wurf lenii is also quite possible. According to the models of
the suitable areas for B. wurf lenii with respect to the future
(Rasmont et al. 2015), the areas adjacent to the Kola Peninsula
can be considered as future areas of occurrence for this species.
Further research is necessary in order to assess the status
of the population of B. wurf lenii in the Kola Peninsula and
adjacent areas.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic
Research (RFBR, project no. 16-34-60035 mol_а_dk). We are
grateful to Juho Paukkunen M.Sc. (Finnish Museum of Natural
History, University of Helsinki, Finland) for providing us with
valuable information concerning Bombus wurflenii in Finland.
Special thanks are due to Dr. Matthew Copley for improving
the language.
REFERENCES
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Apidae). Norsk Entomologisk Tidsskrift 20(1): 1-218.
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Editorial responsibility: Torkild Bakken.
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