Can bumble bees hover? | InsectNet Archive Forum

tantric
New Member

Posts: 1

Can bumble bees hover? Feb 28, 2013 13:42:17 GMT -8

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Post by tantric on Feb 28, 2013 13:42:17 GMT -8

I know male carpenter bees can, but I can't get the data on bumble bees.

Just FYI, I'm making a supplement for a fantasy role playing game where in the various orders of arthropods are modelled as faeries. This is the old PDF: byronled.myweb.uga.edu/Worlds/Combo.pdf, which I'm now updating.

Borja Gómez
Full Member

Posts: 177

Can bumble bees hover? Mar 3, 2013 18:15:40 GMT -8

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Post by Borja Gómez on Mar 3, 2013 18:15:40 GMT -8

Hello

They can make a kind of hovering when aproaching flowers but I never see the Bombus hovering when in mid air, maybe they have the capability but they don't need it as they are very busy looking for flowers with nectar. The really expert hovering insects like syrphidae flies, anisoptera odonates or macroglossum sphingidae, for example can fly not just straight, up, down and laterally, but backwards too and I think the bumblebees can't do this, just fly straight, and up and down or with lateral move. Just kind of hovering when they approach a flower extending their bucal apparatus, but I think they don't trully hover in the air.
Btw you made a very nice and fun work I like it

Regards

Last Edit: Mar 3, 2013 18:17:35 GMT -8 by Borja Gómez