Winter activity of Greek Bumble bees

The other day (November) I was on the hills at the Khalkidhiki peninsula arter a two week rainy period… It was about 4 in the evening when I heard the familiar buzz. A Bombus terrestris queen was nest searching! In this area, from my observations so far I have come to the conclusion that Bombus terrestris is active almost all year round. The season seems to start for the young queens in fall after a rainy period and they will have a nest going by mid December. During this period the strawberry tree Arbutus unedo is in bloom which is a very good food source for the newly founded colony.

(photo from http://tree-species.blogspot.com)

Records of Bombus subterraneus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Bombus cryptarum (Fabricius, 1775)

This time in the recent issue of Entomologia Hellenica Volume 18 (2009) a new paper was published concerning bumblebee specimens collected from Flórina, Greece:

Anagnostopoulos, I. Th. 2009. New Balkan records of Bombus subterraneus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Bombus cryptarum (Fabricius, 1775) from Greece. Entomologia Hellenica 18:56-61.

(Please note that by pressing on the title, that the full article can be downloaded as a pdf file from the Hellenic Entomological Society site)

The bumble bee fauna of Greece, an update.

In the recent issue of Entomofauna (2009) #30 a paper was published concerning bumblebee specimens collected from Flórina Prefecture, Northwestern region of Macedonia, Greece. From the information in this paper five species new to the Greek bumblebee fauna are presented, thus updating the current record in Greece to a total of 33 Bombus species. The paper is:

Anagnostopoulos, I. T. 2009. New records of bumble bees from the Northwestern mountainous region of Greece (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Entomofauna 30: 445-449.

If a request is made to me by e-mail I can sent a printed copy of the above paper or one can order it from Entomofauna.

As already mentioned the majority of the blog material on “Greek bumblebees” is presented in the affiliated Greek language blog in order to raise awareness in Greece for these magnificent insects. Here selected material is presented (due to lack of time) that I think may interest “the world”… but it has been pointed out to me from none Greek readers that they can understand the Greek blog from translation engines found in the web. If you fine that something is left out from “Greek bumble bees” and should be included here in English… a simple request will make it “happen”.

Season Greetings to All!!!

30 years Hellenic Entomological Society

This year the Hellenic Entomological Society (H.E.S.) completes 30 years of activity (est. 1979).



The aim of the H.E.S. is the promotion of the science of entomology. Hellenic Entomological Society is interested in developing the science of Entomology in Greece: the proliferation and communication of knowledge concerned with the distribution, ecology, physiology, ethology of insects, mites and other arthropods , mainly the organisms that are pests of plants, animals, agricultural products and humans. The society is also interested in the study of beneficial and mass reared natural enemies, the pests and diseases of these organisms as well as protecting the environment from the non- sustainable use of any agricultural products such as pesticides and other chemical substances.

Additionally, H.E.S. is interested in collaborating with other research institutions and societies operating nationally or internationally as well as the promotion of the members of the society.

H.E.S. publishes Entomologia Hellenicα which can be accessed from the H.E.S. web site.