Cryptic subarctic diversity: a new bumblebee species from the Yukon and Alaska (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

ABSTRACT

It is nearly 90 years since a bumblebee species has been described for the first time from Canada or the USA that was previously unrecognised by science. We describe and illustrate Bombus(Alpinobombus) kluanensis sp. nov. and begin to map its distribution. This species was discovered through analysis of Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I barcodes and had been unsuspected on the basis of morphological and colour characteristics. So far, 247 female specimens considered to belong to this species are known from the subarctic mountains associated with the Denali Fault running from the Alaska Range (Alaska, USA) to Kluane in the Saint Elias Mountains (Yukon, Canada). A checklist of all species of the subgenus Alpinobombus worldwide is provided.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:78D524DD-FFBA-4BC4-8D39-3EF4F6BDD39E

KEYWORDS:

• Barcode
• Beringia
• bumblebee
• pollinators
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all who generously donated or loaned specimens, especially to S. Cardinal (CNC), B. Harris (USNM) and D. Sikes (UAM); to S. Stotyn, M. Svoboda, B. Bennett and S. Dar for help in collecting specimens in the Yukon; to C. Wong of Parks Canada for her support; to L. Packer for arranging for some of the sequencing as part of the BEEBOL campaign; to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario for many of the DNA extractions and sequencing; to J.-X. Huang for sequencing other material at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Institute for Apicultural Research, Beijing; to L. Bailey, D. Michez, P. Rasmont and R. Thorp for discussion; and to two anonymous referees for helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and the Canada-Saskatchewan Growing Forward 2 bilateral agreement under grant 20130112; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Canadian Wildlife Service.