Abstract:

Bombus ignitus Smith is one of the main pollinators for mountain flowers in south-east of Gansu Province. The survey from 2007 to 2010 in the Maijishan scenic spots of Gansu Province indicated that the highest abundance of B. ignitus for the region was in Shimenshan, Xianrenya and Jingtusi. B. ignitus had one generation a year in nature in the region. Queens emerged from the hibernation in middle March, the first batch of workers emerged in early May, drones and young queens emerged mainly from early July to late August, the colonies would decline in the early fall, the mated progeny queens put themselves at hibernation in the late October for another life cycle. The bumblebee food-plant records from the region included 59 plant species, belonging to 17 families, the most important food plants were different between the seasons. Rearing trials showed that B. ignitus had large colonies, with more than 140 workers, 360 drones and 30 young queens produced per colony. Success in rearing colonies from queens was over 60%, demonstrating that the species had the potential to be mass-reared with important applied value for crop pollination in greenhouses.