Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1967

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Entomology and Plant Pathology

Major Professor

A. C. Cole Jr.

Committee Members

J. N. Liles, James T. Tanner

Abstract

The importance of bumblebees has often been overlooked and taken far too lightly by those who did not readily recognize what a significant contribution they have made to our civilization. Normally, when one speaks of bees, thoughts turn to the great economic contributions of the honeybees. Except for those persons who are closely associated with flowers, the real significance of bees is often overlooked. Even many of those ladies who love to have flower gardens, have told this investigator that they would appreciate his catching all their bees. Actually, the evolution of bees and flowers has gone hand in hand. The most valuable aspect of bumblebee behavior with respect to man is the pollination of our flowers. Flowers benefit from bumblebee visits because the bumblebees incidentally transfer pollen from the male to the female organs, thereby bringing about pollination and subsequent seed production. Competition among bumblebees and other insects as pollinating agents has undoubtedly played an important role in the evolution of flowering plants, since the color, shape, and scent of their flowers are all instrumental in attracting such visitors.

To demonstrate the real economic importance of bumblebees as pollinators, especially in the production of legume seeds and fruit crops, one has only to turn to the interesting history of red clover in New Zealand. Prior to 1885 and 1886 the red clover crop in New Zealand was practically nil because the plants failed to set seed properly. However, in 1885 and 1886 the Canterbury Acclimatization Society shipped queen bumblebees from England, and the following years brought a considerable increase in the red clover seed crop in New Zealand (Free and Butler, 1959). Records of the importance of bumblebees as pollinators of alfalfa are also available (Stephen, 1955; Nogaard, 1966).

Various workers have completed taxonomic studies on bumblebees in various parts of the United States, both east and west of the Mississippi River. Some of these are Prison (1919), Milliron (1938), Chandler (1950), Stephen (1957), LaBerge and Webb (1962), Mitchell (1962), Medler and Carney (1963), and Chandler and McCoy (1965). Although Mitchell's (1962) work included the entire eastern United States, many states in that region still have very incomplete checklists of species. Among these is Tennessee. It was, then, pri marily for the purpose of completing a checklist that this study was undertaken in East Tennessee. Although the study area for the main part, has been confined to East Tennessee, species identifications from the other two Grand Divisions of the state were included when information could be obtained from museum collections.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS