Talk:Bumblebee

Cuckoo Bee
Why is the phrase describing this one specific type of bee, Cuckoo Bees, in the first section of the article? That seems like something that should be further down since it's only about one type of bee on this article with a much broader scope. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.86.200.134 (talk) 04:17, 19 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Because there are 30 species of cuckoo bumblebees; this is a decidedly non-trivial portion of the genus, and they exhibit major differences from other bumblebee species. It would be a serious omission if the introduction suggested that all bumblebees are social, or gather pollen, etc., without acknowledging the many species that are exceptions to the norm. Dyanega (talk) 20:15, 21 October 2019 (UTC)

Bumblebee vs. Bumble Bee
Entomologists use "bumble bee" and not "bumblebee" as is explained in the article "Is It Bumble Bee or Bumblebee?" It is also the case that dictionaries reflect casual or lay use of the bee's proper name. In the main text of the article, I can see where some uses are more aligned to lay naming; but, in other places such as describing the bee's classification, it would seem that the accepted naming by entomologists should be used. Because changing "bumblebee" to "bumble bee" (with appropriate capitalization) would amount to a substantial change, including a change perhaps to the page title, I would like to be guided on what the appropriate adjustment to this article would include. Serverscience (talk) 14:11, 13 May 2021 (UTC)
 * No changes required. We don't follow a specific country's or society's lead, we use what's most common. Note that your link also makes clear that use in scientific works is also inconsistent. Given that "bumblebee" appears to be twice as commonly used as is "bumble bee"  in everyday sources, that's just fine for us. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 14:48, 13 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree re bumblebee. Eric talk 19:15, 13 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Speaking as a world authority on bees, including bumblebees, the primary distinction is not really between entomologists and non-entomologists, it's mostly between American versus British English. Very few entomologists in the UK or EU use the two-word spelling variant. The article cited above is very misleading because it uses, as its source, American entomologists, and the Entomological Society of America's official guidelines. In plain fact, that article tells a white lie about one of its sources, even - they indicate Paul Williams as one of the co-authors of a book using the two-word spelling, as if he supports the practice, when in fact Paul (who is from the UK) objected to it, and was overruled by his American co-authors. If you visit Paul's own website, which is the definitive international source for information on bumblebees, it's spelled as one word. Personally speaking, I'm an American and I use the single-word variant because it's got a longer historical use, broader geographic use, and I find USA-centric revisionism to be an embarrassment. As far as I'm concerned you don't create or revise "common names" out of thin air - unless it's a name commonly in use, it's just a neologism, not a common name. Dyanega (talk) 20:48, 13 May 2021 (UTC)
 * It would be nice if the usage was consistent throughout the article, though. Consider these sentences from it (emphasis mine):
 * "Cuckoo bumblebees were previously classified as a separate genus, but are now usually treated as members of Bombus"
 * "Nest-making bumblebees can be distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy cuckoo bees by the form of the female hind leg. In nesting bumblebees, it is modified to form a pollen basket, a bare shiny area surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen, whereas in cuckoo bees, the hind leg is hairy all round, and they never carry pollen."
 * It's somewhat unclear and confusing whether "cuckoo bees" refers to previously mentioned "cuckoo bumblebees", or some altogether different species. Technicality nitpicker (talk) 09:32, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Fair point, as "cuckoo bee" is a very broad term referring to many different families of bees. Dyanega (talk) 17:26, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Unnecessary advertising
Can the specific link to Bumblebee (film) be removed now? It's not a particularly significant film to deserve being the first thing you see when trying to read about the insect... Saii (talk) 12:50, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah fair enough ... done. Graham 87 15:11, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Etymology
I don't want to veer into the realm of original research, but it occurred to me that there might be an alternate etymology worth considering for "bumble." In trying to understand the meaning of the German word "himbeere" (raspberry), I discovered that "wimple" (relating to peach-fuzz, or short soft hairs) is a likely root for the "him" prefix. With this in mind, it seems plausible to me, given the morphology of bumblebees, that bumble may derive not from an onomatopoeic behavior, but from the soft hairy exterior (wimple-biene -> himple-biene -> humble-biene -> bumble-biene, similarly to wimple-beere -> himple-beere -> him-beere). Has anyone come across something similar that might be "source-able" in this regard?

Fizyxnrd (talk) 15:01, 4 February 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 December 2023
(UNDER THE SECTION 'COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR')

Research at Queen Mary University of London, 'Do Bumble Bees Play?', has recently demonstrated that bumble bees exhibit behaviour associated with object play, drawing intrinsic reward from the rolling of wooden balls with no apparent incentive. As well as this, the bees showed a preference for areas they had associated with balls being available to roll, further suggesting that they draw enjoyment from this action and may have a higher sentience than first thought. SpanielLD (talk) 10:53, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Not done; not in Wikipedia style for a number of reasons and I don't really know if it's due weight. Someone with more expertise might be able to fulfil this request but the "edit semi-protected" template is for non-controversial and straightforward edit requests. Graham87 (talk) 16:38, 4 December 2023 (UTC)