Pollen or Snow? - _TNY_8024
Here's a lovely little new garden bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), also known as the tree bumblebee, climbing around on the huge inflorescence of a purple angelica (Angelica gigas).
The round white pollen stuck in that orange and black fur makes me think of snow and it looks kind of pretty, right?
That isn't the cool thing about this shot though. Notice how there is a small mite which has burrowed in up in the orange fur there. This is most likely a mite in the genus Parasitus which, in spite of the name, actually isn't parasitic, but rather phoretic, ie they just use the bumblebee for travel.
Pollen or Snow? - _TNY_8024
Here's a lovely little new garden bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), also known as the tree bumblebee, climbing around on the huge inflorescence of a purple angelica (Angelica gigas).
The round white pollen stuck in that orange and black fur makes me think of snow and it looks kind of pretty, right?
That isn't the cool thing about this shot though. Notice how there is a small mite which has burrowed in up in the orange fur there. This is most likely a mite in the genus Parasitus which, in spite of the name, actually isn't parasitic, but rather phoretic, ie they just use the bumblebee for travel.