Lapponicus sylvicola

Bombus sylvicola Kirby
sylvicola Kirby, 1837:272

TAXONOMIC STATUS: B. sylvicola is morphologically closely similar to B. lapponicus, and it has been suggested repeatedly that they are conspecific (e.g. Sladen, 1919; Skorikov, 1922a, 1937; Pittioni, 1942, 1943; Thorp, 1962; Thorp et al., 1983).

Evidence from comparisons of DNA sequences from the 16S gene is not strong but consistent with the two taxa being separate species (Cameron et al., 2007 [pdf]). Until more evidence to the contrary is available from critical studies of patterns of variation, I shall treat them as two separate species. See also the comments on B. monticola.

DISTRIBUTION: Arctic, W Nearctic Regions.

Bombus lapponicus (Fabricius)
lapponica (Fabricius, 1793:318 [Apis])
zhaosu Wang, 1985:162, examined

DISTRIBUTION: Palaearctic, Arctic Regions.