Distributional Pattern and Food Plants of Western Himalayan Bumble Bees from Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve

The present work incorporates new distributional records of the genus Bombus (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) of Western Himalaya covering some major habitats/localities. A total of nine species were collected viz. B. albopleuralis, B. asiaticus, B. festivus, B. jacobsoni, B. keriensis, B. melanurus, B. rufofasciatus, B. simillimus and B. tunicatus distributed over five subgenera with elevation ranging from 2500-3500 masl. Out of nine species B. tunicatus was already recorded from the study area (Gupta, 1997). The remaining eight species were documented for the first time; B. tunicatus was observed to be the most prominent species with respect to number of males. The identified species comprised individuals of worker and male castes. In addition, some food plants of these bees were also recorded for the first time.