Cornish Biodiversity Network - Supporting Wildlife Recording
The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Status
This species is local in Scottish highlands, rare and declining in England and Wales
although strong populations on Salisbury Plain.
Regional Distribution
Possibly extinct; last recorded in 1981. Spooner recorded it at a number of sites on the Devon/Cornwall border in the late 1970s where it now appears to be absent.
Habitat & Ecology
This is a short-medium-tongued species, which usually nests below the ground. One of the latest Bombus species with populations at peak numbers into the middle of September. In Scotland and Wales it is associated with wet heath/moorland forage including Crossleaved Heath Erica tetralix and Rubus species. On Salisbury Plain it is associated with chalk grassland forage including Ribbed Melilot Melilotus officinalis and Devils-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis . Past populations at Ilfracombe (Devon) were associated with Bramble Rubus fructicosus agg. (Sladen, 1912). Past populations in Cornwall found on coastal and Bodmin Moor habitats.
Threats
Not applicable in Cornwall.
Conservation
The protection of large areas of later flowering habitats such as heathland/moorland with Devils-bit Scabious is required. The Lizard would probably be suitable for a re-introduction scheme.
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.