Check List 11(3): e19218, doi: 10.15560/11.3.1620
New records reveal rapid geographic expansion of Bombus terrestris Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), an invasive species in Argentina
expand article infoBenoît Geslin‡, Carolina L. Morales§
‡ Universidad Nacional del Río Negro – CONICET, Argentina§ Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET, Argentina

Corresponding author: Benoît Geslin ( benoitgeslin@gmail.com )

© 2017 Benoît Geslin, Carolina Morales.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Geslin B, Morales C (2015) New records reveal rapid geographic expansion of Bombus terrestris Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), an invasive species in Argentina. Check List 11(3): 1620. https://doi.org/10.15560/11.3.1620
Open Access
Abstract
Bombus terrestris Linnaeus is an invasive bumblebee in Argentina. Since its first record in March 2006, B. terrestris has rapidly become the most widespread species in the southern Argentina’s Patagonia. The explosion of B. terrestris populations has been associated with the rapid decline of the unique native species B. dahlbomii, Guérin-Méneville. However, B. terrestris had never been yet reported farther south than the 50° parallel. We report for the first time the presence of B. terrestris at the southern end of continental Patagonia and discuss its meaning with regards on potential consequences for B. dahlbomii populations.
Keywords
Bombus terrestris; Bombus dahlbomii; invasive bumblebee species; Argentina; Patagonia