Bombus simillimus Smith 1852
Creators: name: Williams, Paul H.
name: Altanchimeg, Dorjsuren
name: Byvaltsev, Alexandr
name: Jonghe, Roland De
name: Jaffar, Saleem
name: Japoshvili, George
name: Kahono, Sih
name: Liang, Huan
name: Mei, Maurizio
name: Monfared, Alireza
name: Nidup, Tshering
name: Raina, Rifat
name: Ren, Zongxin
name: Thanoosing, Chawatat
name: Zhao, Yanhui
name: Orr, Michael C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Bombus
Bombus simillimus

description: Bombus simillimus Smith, 1852
Figs 2, 13, 46–49, 184
Bombus simillimis Smith, 1852a: 48.
Bremus oculatus Frison, 1933: 335.
Sibiricobombus tonsus Skorikov, 1933a: 248 (Skorikov 1923, 1931: published without description). Bombus oculatus var. [subsp.] haemorrhous Richards, 1934: 87.
Bombus similis – Smith 1854: 403, incorrect subsequent spelling.
Bombus simillimus – von Dalla Torre 1896: 548, justified emendation.
Our PTP analysis (Fig. 10) of coalescents in the COI gene within the rufofasciatus -group supports nine species including B. simillimus, corroborated by differences in morphology (see the Diagnosis).
Females show pronounced size-dependent dimorphism in the colour pattern of the hair: large queens have the thorax and T1–2 black (taxon simillimus s. str.); whereas workers (which are smaller) have the thorax grey-white and T1–2 dark chocolate brown (Fig. 2: taxon haemorrhous). Males have the thoracic dorsum and often T1–2 grey-white (taxon oculatus). Unsurprisingly, the queens, workers, and males were first described as separate species. That these castes and sexes are conspecific has been confirmed from examining variation within one colony excavated in Kashmir (Williams 1991). The male is distinctive for its unusually large eyes (Frison 1933; Williams 1991).
Diagnosis
Females
Queens large body length 25–27 mm, workers 12–17 mm. Can be distinguished by the combination of the hair of the thoracic dorsum either entirely black (queen) or entirely white (worker: Fig. 2) with the wings dark brown (cf. B. lapidarius, B. eriophorus, B. pyrosoma).
Males
Body length 16–18 mm. Can be distinguished by the combination of the hair of the thoracic dorsum entirely white with the wings dark brown, similarly coloured to the worker, but the hair of T1 and usually T2 is white; hair of T3 almost entirely black and without a yellow posterior fringe (cf. other rufofasciatus -group species except B. richardsiellus). Genitalia (Fig. 184) with the gonostylus robust, about half as long on its outer side as broad, with the distal edge concave and the inner distal corner and the inner proximal corner both broad and nearly 90° (cf. all other Melanobombus); volsella with the inner distal corner broadly rounded and without a narrow hook (cf. festivus -group, other rufofasciatus - group); antenna short and eye strongly enlarged relative to female eye.
Material examined
Lectotype
INDIA • ♀ (queen), lectotype Bombus simillimus Smith, 1852 by designation of Williams (1991); “N.[orth]”; NHMUK (examined PW).
Material sequenced (5 specimens)
INDIA • 4 ♀♀ (workers); Kashmir; 34.16° N, 74.90° E; Sep. 1980; P. Williams leg.; NHMUK seq: NHMPW17 to NHMPW20; PW: ML182, ML314 to ML316 • 1 ♂; Himachal Pradesh, Jalori pass; 31.5370° N, 77.3729° E; 10 Sep. 2004; R. Raina leg.; BOLD seq: 6877B09; RR: ML384.
Global distribution
(West Himalayan mountain species) Himalaya: PAKISTAN, INDIA: Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal. (IOZ, NHMUK, PW, ZIN, ZMHB.) The species is narrowly distributed but locally common and not rare in collections.
Behaviour
A colony of this species has been described from underground in a deciduous forest at 1700 m a.s.l. in Kashmir (Williams 1991). Food-plant generalists (Williams 1991). The male mate-searching behaviour is expected to resemble the territoriality of B. rufofasciatus (Williams 1991).
description: Published as part of Williams, Paul H., Altanchimeg, Dorjsuren, Byvaltsev, Alexandr, Jonghe, Roland De, Jaffar, Saleem, Japoshvili, George, Kahono, Sih, Liang, Huan, Mei, Maurizio, Monfared, Alireza, Nidup, Tshering, Raina, Rifat, Ren, Zongxin, Thanoosing, Chawatat, Zhao, Yanhui & Orr, Michael C., 2020, Widespread polytypic species or complexes of local species? Revising bumblebees of the subgenus Melanobombus world-wide (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus), pp. 1-120 in European Journal of Taxonomy 719 on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.719.1107, http://zenodo.org/record/4064324