First record of the invasive bumblebee <i>Bombus terrestris</i> (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on Navarino Island, southern Chile (55°S)

Abstract

Abstract. As the volume of global trade expands, so does the risk of alien species reaching new regions. Bombus (Bombus) terrestris (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is a bumble bee traded internationally for crop pollination and is now considered an invasive species in New Zealand, Japan, and throughout South America. We newly document its presence on Navarino Island, Cape Horn, Biosphere Reserve, Chile (55°S), the southernmost locality reached by this species to date.

Mass‐migrating bumblebees: An overlooked phenomenon with potential far‐reaching implications for bumblebee conservation

“…Given that bumblebees were passing these observation points for several hours (Schmid-Hempel et al, 2014), and with 140 km per year in New Zealand (Hopkins, 1914). In other areas this rate is lower (Hingston et al, 2002;Kadoya & Washitani, 2010;Torretta et al, 2006), but on average still a lot more than the measured dispersal rate of a few kilometres in queen dispersal studies (Mola & Williams, 2019). This gives good hope for bumblebee conservation, because it suggests that if the habitat is suitable, bumblebees can (re-)colonise it rapidly from close-by and from far-away locations.…”

Coordinated species importation policies are needed to reduce serious invasions globally: The case of alien bumblebees in South America

“…In 2006, queens and workers were first observed on the Argentine side of the Andes near San Martin de los Andes, in Lanín National Park (Torretta, Medan, & Abrahamovich, ). During the last decade, this species expanded its new South American range to the southern‐most tip of the continent in Tierra del Fuego (more than 2,000 km from the original introduction sites) and from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts across the Patagonian steppe (Morales et al., ; Rendoll‐Carcamo, Contador, Saavedra, & Montalva, ). Niche models predict the spread of B .…”

Are Bumblebees Relevant Models for Understanding Wild Bee Decline?

“…The metabolic and physiological performances of B. terrestris have been mostly discussed in the current context of geographic expansion and invasions in the Anthropocene (Geslin et al, 2017;Aizen et al, 2020;Ghisbain et al, 2021). Very quickly after its domestication began, the buff-tailed bumblebee became invasive in very many areas of the globe where it was originally absent (Rendoll-Carcamo et al, 2017;Aizen et al, 2019;Chandler et al, 2019). This expansion syndrome is relatively uncommon among bumblebees and other bees in the context of global change, being again the exception rather than the rule (Rasmont et al, 2015(Rasmont et al, , 2021Ghisbain et al, 2021).…”