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4

Specimen records of Bombus (Alpinobombus) in the Oregon State Arthropod 
Collection as of December 2018.

Riley Duncan
Oregon State Arthropod Collection
duncanri@oregonstate.edu

cite this work as: 

Duncan, R. 2019. Specimen records of Bombus (Alpinobombus) in the Oregon State Arthropod Collection as of December 
2018. Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection 3(1). p 4–6.  
http://dx.doi.org/10.5399/osu/cat_osac.3.1.4560

Introduction:

The gold-belted bumblebee, Bombus (Alpinobombus) kirbiellus Curtis 1835, is a poorly known and 
seldom collected species found in northern latitudes as well as some high elevation sites (Hatfield 
et al. 2014).  As it currently stands, Alpinobombus Skorikov 1914 includes 9 valid species, 6 of which 
are found in western North America (Table 1).  Of these, only Bombus kirbiellus (often referred to as B. 
balteatus Dahlbom, 1832) is regularly found in the United States outside of Alaska, with populations 
known from the both the Rocky Mountains and central California (Koch et al. 2015).

Table 1.
North American species of Bombus (Alpinobombus)
  
Species Present in the OSAC
B. kirbiellius Curtis 1835 32
B. neoboreus Sladen, 1919 4
B. polaris Curtis 1835 10
B. natvigi Richards 1931 -
B. hyperboreus Schönherr, 1809 22
B. kluanensis Williams, Canning & Corey 2016 -

    
This dataset is part of a larger effort to generate digital label data for the entire bumblebee collection 
at Oregon State University and is part of several ongoing collaborations related to pollinators and 
pollinator health in the Pacific Northwest, such as the Oregon Bee Project  
(https://www.oregonbeeproject.org).
 
Methods/Metadata

Each specimen is given a unique serial number (catalog number) that is printed as a  machine-
readable barcode, as well as a human readable numeral, on an acid-free, card-stock label that is 
placed as the bottom-most label.   

http://odonata.bogfoot.net/docs/NA_Odonata_Checklist_2018.pdf 
http://dx.doi.org/10.5399/osu/cat_osac.3.1.4560
https://www.oregonbeeproject.org


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Data standards: All label data is transcribed into fields that are consistent with Darwincore standards 
for occurrence data (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence).

Taxonomic treatment: the taxonomic identity for all specimens is based on the historical determination 
labels associated with those specimens.  Specimens were not re-determined as part of this project.   
Metadata about the determination is provided using Darwincore Identification fields  
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Identification).  Many specimens do not bear individual 
determination labels but are present in labeled unit trays.  In these cases, the Identifiedby field is left 
blank although the collection was originally curated by William P. Stephen who studied bumblebees 
for many years at Oregon State University. Nomenclature follows that of Williams et al. (2015).

Locality and georeference data.  Locality data was transcribed into the DublinCore location fields 
(http://purl.org/dc/terms/Location); namely: country, stateProvince, county and locality. Missing 
information (e.g., no county printed on actual specimen label) was added to a record only if it could 
be determined without ambiguity based on gazetteers, maps or in reference to other label data. 
Elevational data on labels were converted to minimumElevationInMeters.  Elevational ranges (e.g, 
500-1200m) were recorded as the lower of the two.  Georeferencing for locality data was conducted 
by searching GoogleEarth for the most appropriate placenames and recording the decimal degree 
latitude and longitude associated with that point.  Because of the ambiguity in this approach it is 
recorded at a tenth of a degree

Metadata:  Record type is considered physicalObject and basisofRecord is entered as 
preservedSpecimen.  The collector(s) of the specimen are entered in the recordedBy field.  The 
OccurrenceID is a URI for the specimen record itself, and includes the catalog number:  
“http://osac.oregonstate.edu/SP/OSAC_XXXXXXXXXX” where “XXXXXXXXXX” is the 10-digit 
unique catalog number for the specimen.

Results

One hundred and eight specimens of Alpinobombus were found in the holdings of the OSAC, 
belonging to 6 species, with 4 of the 6 North American species being represented (Table 1).  Nineteen 
specimens were not identified to species level.  Label data for 20 specimens were not included in 
the supplemental dataset, as their labels lacked appropriate locality information or could not be 
interpreted reliably at this time.

Discussion

These data are presented for use by researchers and conservationists interested in Bombus 
(Alpinobombus) historical records.  They are available for use either via download from the 
supplemental file associated with this publication (.csv text format) or will be shared online via an 
IPT server, accessible through GBIF (www.gbif.org).  Access via GBIF is recommended, as that dataset 
will include the most recent version of these records in the case that they are modified/updated at 
a later date.  Use of any of these records, in print or in online datasets and websites, should cite the 
dataset appropriately.  Comments, edits or corrections to particular data records should be sent to 
osac@science.oregonstate.edu or the current curatorial staff of the Oregon State Arthropod Collection 
so they may be updated.

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Identification
http://purl.org/dc/terms/Location
http://www.gbif.org)


Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   Vol 3(1) 4–6

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References

Hatfield R, Colla S, Jepsen S, Richardson L, Thorp R, Foltz Jordan S (2014) IUCN Assessments for 
North American Bombus spp.,  pp 1–56.  
https://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/North-American-Bombus-
Red-List-assessments-10-2014.pdf

Koch J, Lozier J, Strange J, Ikerd H, Griswold T, Cordes N, Solter L, Stewart I, Cameron S (2015) 
USBombus, a database of contemporary survey data for North American Bumble Bees 
(Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus) distributed in the United States. Biodiversity Data 
Journal 3. doi: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e6833

Williams PH, Byvaltsev AM, Cederberg B, Berezin MV, Ødegaard F, Rasmussen C, Richardson 
LL, Huang J, Sheffield CS, Williams ST (2015) Genes suggest ancestral colour 
polymorphisms are shared across morphologically cryptic species in arctic bumblebees. 
Plos one 10: e0144544. doi:2015https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144544

Acknowledgements

Supported by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research under award number: 549024. 
The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily 
represent the official views of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

https://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/North-American-Bombus-Red-List-assessments-10-2014.pdf
https://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/North-American-Bombus-Red-List-assessments-10-2014.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e6833
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144544

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