Female bumble bees will collect loose pollen from their bodies to pack into the pollen basket (corbicula). one on each back leg, to back to the nest. Bumble bees provide critical ecological service in the form of pollination worldwide.

Use color patterns across head, thorax and abdomen to identify bumble bees. Male and female bumble bees differ in their color patterns. Male bumble bees can be distinguished from females by the absence of a corbicula, having longer abdomens and inability to sting.

Male bumble bees can be distinguished from females by the absence of a corbicula; presence of a longer abdomen and antennae; and males do not have the ability to sting.

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Get more details about identifying individual bumble bees, their range, and active seasons in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bumble Bees of the Eastern United States, or in OSU Extension's Key to Female Bumble Bees of Oklahoma.