Overview
The Ashton's cuckoo bumble bee belongs to a subgenus of bumble bees that parasitize host species, having lost their ability to collect or store pollen or to rear their own young. Instead, Ashton's cuckoo bumble bees invade the nests of host species and take control, forcing the inhabitants to raise and care for their offspring. For that reason, the species status is closely linked to that of its preferred hosts: the rusty patched bumble bee, yellow-banded bumble bee and western bumble bee, all of which have experienced recent declines. The Ashton's cuckoo bumble has also been showing signs of decline.
Ashton's cuckoo bumble bees are most common in northeastern North America, but their range can extend westward across Canada and into Alaska. The species relies on an assortment of floral groups for food, such as thistles, sweet clovers and brambles. Like most bumble bees, this species faces threats from multiple sources including pesticides, habitat loss or degradation, climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change and diseases that can be introduced by non-native bee species.