Bombus genalis Friese
genalis Friese, 1918:84, examined

TAXONOMIC STATUS: From COI barcodes, B. genalis appears to be discrete and is likely to be separate species.

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental Region.

Bombus grahami (Frison)
grahami (Frison, 1933:334 [Bremus]), examined

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental Region.

Bombus kashmirensis Friese
kashmirensis Friese, 1909[September, Tkalcu, 1974b]:673, examined
stramineus Friese, 1909[September, Tkalcu, 1974b]:673
tetrachromus Cockerell, 1909[November, Tkalcu, 1974b]:397, examined
pulcherrimus (Skorikov, 1914a:128 [Alpigenobombus])

TAXONOMIC STATUS: Several of these nominal taxa have been treated as separate species. However, aside from differences in colour pattern, they are closely similar in morphology with a range of variation (Williams, 1991 [pdf]:68). Until more evidence to the contrary is available from critical studies of patterns of variation, I shall treat them as parts of a single variable species.

NOMENCLATURE: Tkalcu (1974b) first regarded B. kashmirensis and B. stramineus as conspecific and, following the Principle of First Reviser (ICZN, 1999: Article 24), chose B. kashmirensis as the name for the species.

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental Region, Palaearctic border.

Bombus nobilis Friese
nobilis Friese, 1905:513
?sikkimi Friese, 1918:82, examined
[morawitziides Skorikov, [1923]:159, published without description]
[moravitziides Skorikov, 1931:203, published without description]
?morawitziides (Skorikov, 1933a:62 [Nobilibombus]) examined
?xizangensis Wang, 1979:188, examined
chayaensis Wang, 1979:189, examined

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental Region.

Bombus wurflenii Radoszkowski
Wurflenii Radoszkowski , 1860:482, examined
[Wurfleini Radoszkowski, 1877b:191, incorrect subsequent spelling]
mastrucatus Gerstaecker, 1869:326, examined
alpigenus Morawitz, 1874:132

DISTRIBUTION: Palaearctic Region.

Bombus balteatus Dahlbom
balteatus Dahlbom, 1832:36
nivalis Dahlbom, 1832:40
tricolor Dahlbom, 1832:41
tristis Sparre-Schneider in Friese, 1902:495, not of Seidl, 1837:69 (= B. humilis Illiger)

DISTRIBUTION: Arctic, Palaearctic Regions.

Bombus neoboreus Sladen
strenuus Cresson, 1863:102, not of Harris, 1776:131 (= B. lapidarius (Linnaeus))
neoboreus Sladen, 1919:28
2 names

TAXONOMIC STATUS: Recent evidence from genes supports B. neoboreus and a currently unnamed cryptic species as separate species (Williams et al., 2015 [pdf]).

NOMENCLATURE: B. strenuus Cresson (1863) is a junior secondary homonym in Bombus of Apis strenuus Harris (1776), and therefore the name B. strenuus Cresson is invalid (ICZN, 1999: Article 57). For this species, the oldest available name is B. neoboreus, which becomes the valid name. The only publications using the name B. strenuus Cresson since 1950 of which I am aware are by Hurd (1979), Milliron (1973a) and Poole (1996), so this change of valid name is not a serious disruption of common usage.

DISTRIBUTION: Arctic, W Nearctic Regions.

Bombus cryptarum (Fabricius)
cryptarum (Fabricius, 1775:379 [Apis])
albocinctus Smith, 1854:397
modestus Cresson, 1863:99, not of Eversmann, 1852:134 (= B. modestus Eversmann)
moderatus Cresson, 1863:109, replacement name for modestus Cresson, 1863:99
iranicus Krüger, 1954:273
?borochorensis Krüger, 1954:273
?turkestanicus Krüger, 1954:274
?burjaeticus Krüger, 1954:277
florilegus Panfilov, 1956:1334
reinigianus Rasmont, 1984:137
armeniensis Rasmont, 1984:138

DISTRIBUTION: Palaearctic, Oriental, Arctic, W Nearctic Regions.

Bombus franklini (Frison)
franklini (Frison, 1921:147 [Bremus]) examined
1 name

TAXONOMIC STATUS: This species has been treated as conspecific with B. occidentalis by Milliron (1971), but has since been shown to be very distinct in morphology by Plowright & Stephen (1980) and Williams (1991 [pdf]), in enzyme mobilities by Scholl, Thorp & Obrecht (1992), and in COI barcodes (Williams et al., 2012 [pdf]).

MORPHOLOGY: photos of male genitalia.

DISTRIBUTION: W Nearctic Region. B. franklini has one of the narrowest distributions of any bumble bee species world-wide. All recent specimens have been collected within a 60 mile (97 km) radius of Grants Pass, Oregon (Thorp, 1970, 2003, 2005; Thorp et al., 1983). This species has shown dramatic declines in its former range and abundance since 1995 (Thorp, 2003, 2005; Thorp & Shepherd, 2005; IUCN, 2008).

IUCN CONSERVATION STATUS: Preliminary assessment as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (Williams & Osborne, 2009) by criterion A2 (IUCN, 2001, 2008) that it is inferred to have undergone a >80% population reduction since 1995, that the causes may not be reversible and may not yet have ceased, based on few records of individuals in the last four years. There are suggestions that it may be extinct (Buchmann et al., 2008). The last known record is from 2006 (R. Thorp, in litt.).

Bombus ignitus Smith
ignitus Smith, 1869:207, examined
terminalis Smith, 1873:206, examined, not of Smith in Horne, 1870:193 (= B. festivus Smith)
japonicus Dalla Torre, 1890:139, replacement name for terminalis Smith, 1873:206

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental, Japanese Regions.

Bombus tunicatus Smith
tunicatus Smith, 1852a:43, examined
vallestris Smith, 1878:8
gilgitensis Cockerell, 1905:223, examined
?manaliensis Kumar & Lall, 2004:236

TAXONOMIC STATUS: COI barcodes support the interpretation that the taxon gilgitensis is a dark form of the species B. tunicatus (Williams et al., 2012 [pdf]).

DISTRIBUTION: Oriental Region.

Bombus brachycephalus Handlirsch
brachycephalus Handlirsch, 1888:244
neotropicus (Frison, 1928:151 [Bremus]) examined
krusemani Asperen de Boer, 1990:1

TAXONOMIC STATUS: The description of B. krusemani shows that this nominal taxon, known from a single location, diverges slightly in colour pattern from the otherwise widespread, common and variable Central American species, B. brachycephalus. The information available at present for B. krusemani is consistent with the known range of variation within B. brachycephalus (e.g. Labougle, 1990). Until more evidence to the contrary is available from critical studies of patterns of variation, I shall treat them as parts of a single variable species.

DISTRIBUTION: S Nearctic, N Neotropical Regions.

Bombus coccineus Friese
coccineus Friese, 1903:254, examined

DISTRIBUTION: W Neotropical Region.

Bombus crotchii Cresson
Crotchii Cresson, 1878:184

DISTRIBUTION: W Nearctic Region.

Bombus ecuadorius Meunier
Ecuadorius Meunier, 1890:66
?butteli Friese, 1903:254, examined

DISTRIBUTION: W Neotropical Region.