Bombus fraternus (Southern Plains Bumble Bee)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Apidae

Genus: Bombus

Species: fraternus

Southern Plains Bumble Bee - Bombus fraternus

1377706

Species Extent (New Mexico)

Global Rank: G3

State Rank: S2

Rank Metadata
State Rank: S2	Rank Changed: 05/17/2025
Rank Reviewed: N/A
Reason: The Southern Plains Bumblee bee is rarely observed in New Mexico and is thought to be declining across its range. In New Mexico the species has only been recently seen in one of the eight counties it was known to previously exist in however, it is unknown how much surveying has actually occurred. The species historically has a large Extent of Occurrence of 77,058km2 in New Mexico however, it has not been seen in many of these areas for long periods of time. Due to its rarity the Area of Occupancy for the species is much lower at just 19km2. Furthermore, the species is only known from 14 occurrences and is highly threatened by habitat conversion, pesticides, and fire suppression which are thought to be causing the nationwide declines in the species. This species was also recently petitioned for ESA listing and received a positive 90 day finding as a result, this species is currently assessed as S2 in New Mexico. However, a reassesment should be done if more information becomes available.

Ecological Factors
Specificity: Moderate. Generalist or community with some key requirements scarce.	Range Extent: 20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)
Occurences: 6 - 20	Population Size: Unknown
Area of Occupancy: An Area of Occupancy of 19km2 was calculated using GeoCat with data from GBIF.org (GBIF.org (17 May 2025) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.qu5avz).	Threat Summary: N/A

State Status:

Federal Status:

USFS Status:

BLM Status: Watch

SWAP Status: SGCN

NMRP Strategy Status:

Number of Subpopulations: 12

Number of Mapped Locations: 41

Number of Observations: 41

Observation date range: 08-25-1931 to 09-11-2019

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