Nutrition

 

 

Bumblebees feed and gain nutrients through the pollination of flowers. The nectar and pollen are gathered by the female workers and used to nourish the larva, themselves, and the queen (Bumblebee 2013).

American bumblebees are generalist feeders and pollinators for an array of plant and flower species. The worker bees collect pollen and nectar and return it to the nest; with the pollen attached to their leg in what is referred to as a pollen basket.
Flowers noted early in their taxonomic discovery by in Otto Emil Plath’s Bumblebees and Their Ways published in 1934, are Dierville rose, honey locust, red clover, purple veton, larkspur, and St. Johns wort. With increasing research the noted flowers b. pensylvanicus has been associated with from the time of their first noted discovery are numerous.  Species include flowers milkweed, composite, forget-me-not, honey suckle, morning glory, legume, mint, blazing star, and rose (Discover Life 2013).