Bumble bees are not uncommon in the toy realm, usually as ‘generic bees’ in bin-style sets. Some have been made by major manufacturers, including Bullyland, CollectA, and Safari Ltd., but none of those are identified at the species level. To my knowledge, there are only two figures of bumble bees attributable to the species level, the golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) by Play Visions in 1996 and the rusty patched bumble bee (B. affinis) released earlier this year by Yowie Group. Today’s review covers the latter.
Bombus affinis is native to the northeastern quadrant of the United States and parts of adjacent Canada. The preferred habitats are grasslands and tallgrass prairies, where there are sufficient blooming plants for nectar and pollen. Plants whose nectar and pollen are commonly harvested by B. affinis include Dutchman’s britches (Dicentra cucullaria), common snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris), and great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica). The bee nests in secure places, such as abandoned rodent burrows or under clumps of vegetation, and queens usually overwinter in logs. Populations of B. affinis have dropped in recent years due to habitat destruction and fragmentation of the grasslands and prairies the bee relies on for food sources. At the time of this writing, B. affinis is classified as Critically Endangered and decreasing by the IUCN. The ‘super power’ if this species, keeping with Yowie Group’s theme, is the way in which the bumble bee collects pollen. When the bees flap their wings, it creates a positive electric charge on the setae on their body. This charge attracts the negatively-charged pollen on flowers. This benefits both the bee, in collecting pollen to provision brood cells with, as well as the plants as they get pollinated more efficiently.
The figure has a maximum width of 5.2 cm, including a honeycomb base (more on that in a sec). The bee itself is 3.0 cm long for a scale of 3:1-2:1 for a worker bee or 1.5:1 for a queen. The rusty patched bumble bee gets its common name from a reddish patch on the abdomen of workers and males (but not queens); that feature is covered up by the wings in this figure. Otherwise, the color is pretty good for this species, with black on the terminal segments of the abdomen, a black patch on the thorax, and a completely black head.
More on the honeycomb base. First of all, bumble bees do not produce brood cells in a honeycomb pattern like this. Gravid queens lay their eggs in wax-based ‘pots’ that are filled with nectar and pollen to feed the developing larvae. The other issue with this base is that the honeycomb elevates under the body of the bee with the legs and antennae hugging it close; even in the species that make honeycomb-style brood cells, it would never be raised like this. Obviously, they did this as to not have free legs and antennae that could break off easily, but they probably could have achieved the desired affect having the bee sit on a flower or wood.
Overall, despite its shortcomings (namely the base), the Yowie Group rusty patched bumble bee offers another unique figure of an endangered species. It comes recommended to collectors of different species or for those like myself that gravitate towards arthropods. This honeybee was produced as a ‘mythic’ figure, meaning not very many of them were made. As such, they could be hard to find, even on eBay. Luckily, I was able to get mine via trade from a forum member.
Great review, I’m happy you were able to track one down. I very nearly offered up my own bumblebee!
When I first saw pictures, I noticed the inaccurate and unnecessary honeycomb right away. Otherwise, this is a great figure. Species-specific bee figures are not common outside of the Western Honey Bee.