Bombus polaris is an Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 bumblebee

Bumblebee

A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...

 species.

Distribution

The bumblebee has a circumpolar distribution, found in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, arctic Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, Arctic islands (Devon Island

Devon Island

Devon Island , claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada's sixth largest island, and the 27th...

, Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...

, Baffin Island

Baffin Island

Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...

 and Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

), northern Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 (Nenets

Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km2 and population of 42,628 as of the preliminary results of the 2010 Census , 21,296 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.-Geography and ecology:The arctic ecology of this...

, Yamalo-Nenets

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug , is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the town of Salekhard. Population: -Geography and natural history:...

, Sakha and Chukotka

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...

).

Characteristics

The bumblebee has dense fur that slows heat loss. The colouration is variable, but most often the thorax

Thorax

The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...

 is black with orange-yellow edges, while most of the abdomen is orange-yellow, sometimes with a black tip. These bumblebees also have a higher abdominal temperature than its temperate cousins.

Bombus polaris is predated upon by another, cleptoparasitic

Kleptoparasitism

Kleptoparasitism or cleptoparasitism is a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food...

 bumblebee, Bombus hyperboreus

Bombus hyperboreus

Bombus hyperboreus is an Arctic bumblebee species with a circumpolar distribution, found in arctic Canada, Alaska, Greenland, northern Scandinavia and Russia....

, which takes over the nests in cuckoo bumblebee

Psithyrus

Cuckoo bumblebees are members of the subgenus Psithyrus in the bumblebee genus Bombus. Up until recently, the 29 species of Psithyrus were considered to constitute a separate genus. They are a specialized lineage which has lost social behavior, and lost the ability to collect pollen, and are...

 fashion.

Behavior

Bombus polaris has a major part in the pollination of vegetation in the Arctic. Some plants they pollinate include arctic poppies

Papaver radicatum

Papaver radicatum is a plant species of the genus Papaver. The species grows at a latitude of 83°40'N on Kaffeklubben Island, making it the northern most growing plant in the world.This poppy appears on the Coat of arms of Nunavut.-See also:*Svalbard poppy,...

, Arctic roses

Rhodiola rosea

Rhodiola rosea is a plant in the Crassulaceae family that grows in cold regions of the world. These include much of the Arctic, the mountains of Central Asia, the Rocky Mountains, and mountainous parts of Europe, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathian Mountains, Scandinavia, Iceland, Great...

, and Arctic willow

Arctic Willow

Salix arctica is a tiny creeping willow . It is adapted to survive in harsh Arctic and subarctic environments, and has a circumpolar distribution round the Arctic Ocean.-Distribution:...

s. These bees move their muscles quickly to warm their bodies. Enemies include Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

The Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tryngites subruficollis, is a small shorebird. It is a calidrid sandpipers and currently considered to be the only member of the genus Tryngites. Indeed, it probably belongs in the genus Calidris itself, or more precisely with the small species thereof which should be...

s, Common Eider

Common Eider

The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on...

s, and Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck

The Long-tailed Duck or Oldsquaw is a medium-sized sea duck. It is the only living member of its genus, Clangula; this was formerly used for the goldeneyes, with the Long-tailed Duck being placed in Harelda...

s.