Lemon Cuckoo Bumble Bee - male

Description:

The Lemon Cuckoo bumble bee is warm blooded and reacts to temperature change by going to its hive when the weather becomes cold, during warmer temperatures it will be out collecting pollen & nectar. Cuckoo bumble bees are dependent on other bumble bees for their survival because they live parasitically in the colonies of other bumble bees. The female will kill or subdue the queen of the colony and forcibly enslave the workers of the colony to feed her and her young. Because of this relationship, the recent decline of these bees is a strong indication that other bumble bees species are also disappearing.

Habitat:

Eastern North America. May - October. Typically found in higher latitudes & altitudes. Flowering plants.

Notes:

Observed on Stoke's Aster.