Brown-belted Bumble Bee ( Bombus griseocollis) on a Musk Thistle ( Carduus nutans) flower Brown-belted bumble bees are very cool for a couple of reasons. They are seen all over the US except the southwest. They are seen in a lot of community gardens and will feast on a lot of different flowers. They have been seen flying as high as on top of the Empire State Building. They are eusocial, as you'd expect. The queen lays the eggs, female workers forage for food. These bees have one specific difference only seen in a handful of species though. The males will help incubate the pupae. Another cool fact. You may have heard of some of the flies or wasps that will 'zombify' another insect and lure it to dig a hole, or climb really high. Them the fly or wasp will lay its eggs on or even inside its victim. Well, these bees have a predator that tries that. Thick-headed flies will try to make them dig their own grave and bury them with their eggs. This works about 50% of the time with...
