Peaceful Bumblebee Bombus Terrestris Invades South America

Bumblebees are cute, little furry things. But what makes them different to, let's say, honeybees or wasps, is that they're generally friendlier (or at least minding their own business.)

They were first introduced into central Chile, in southern South America, in 1998 as pollinators in a few greenhouses, and with the approval of state authorities. However, they did not stay in the greenhouses and escaped to establish colonies in the wild.

Thus, the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, turned out to be an extremely invasive insect that's traveled as far as Patagonia.

"This is one of the most spectacular examples of the invasion of an entire continent by a foreign species introduced by man," said Paul SchmidHempel, retired Professor of Experimental Ecology at ETH Zurich. Background information from a press release notes that he has been studying the spread of the buff-tailed bumblebees over the last ten years.

SchmidHempel and his wife collected the insects during several trips to southern South America while documenting their rapid spread and conducting genetic analysis of the insects in order to examine parasites that might be found in the bug's intestines.

Findings show that the bug spread southwards from central Chile along the Andes at a rate of 125 miles a year-much faster than they were expecting. In fact, by 2012, the insect had hid into south Patagonia, even near some national parks.

"Given that colonies and not individual insects have to become established, this migration speed is astonishingly fast," SchmidHempel said, via the release. "Unfortunately, we don't have any information at all about the occurrence of bumblebees on this large island."

However, there are many regions of Southwestern Chile where no one has looked for the buff-tailed bumblebees. SchmidHemple said he thus believes that these remarkable insects could be transported easily to many other locations, possibly by strong winds.

However, he worries about the advance of this bumblebee as it is a disaster for the native bumblebee of South America, Bombus dahlbomii. Whenever the buff-tailed bumblebee settles, the native species is likely to die out. 

More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of Animal Ecology.