Bombus lapponicus

Lecocq, Baptiste Martinet Thomas, Brasero, Nicolas, Gerard, Maxence, Urbanová, Klára, Valterová, Irena, Gjershaug, Jan Ove, Michez, Denis & Rasmont, Pierre, 2019, Integrative taxonomy of an arctic bumblebee species complex highlights a new cryptic species (Apidae: Bombus), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187, pp. 599-621 : 616

BOMBUS LAPPONICUS : A CIRCUMPOLAR TAXON

Based on morphological characters and the coat coloration, Skorikov (1922) and Pittioni (1942) had already hypothesized that there is a set of conspecific taxa related to the B. lapponicus complex all around the Arctic Circle (i.e. B. glacialis from Novaya Zemlya and Wrangel Island, B. lapponicus karaginus Skorikov, 1912 from Chukotka and B. lapponicus zaitzevi Skorikov, 1913 in the northern Urals). However, most taxa of this B.lapponicus complex have never been investigated using genetic or chemical data. Formerly, only the Scandinavian population of the B. lapponicus group was sampled by Svensson & Bergström (1977) to study the cephalic labial gland secretions. Our results based on the sampling of five distant populations (northern Sweden, western Siberia, northern Alaska, Yukon and northern Quebec for wing shape analysis), therefore, seem to confirm the hypothesis of Skorikov (1922) and Pittioni (1942), presenting B. lapponicus s.s. as a northern Holarctic species, with different isolated allopatric subspecies in the polar portion of its distribution. Moreover, Potapov et al. (2017) have shown the conspecificity of specimens of B. lapponicus from Norway, Kamchatka, Yamal and Chukotka based on COI analysis. These results confirm our hypothesis: B. lapponicus is found across northern Holarctic regions, including a circumpolar distribution, and exhibits subspecific differentiation across at least the polar section of its distribution. The absence of differentiation in CLGS and genetic analyses across the Holarctic region suggest that there is no isolation mechanism between any B. lapponicus populations. These taxa do not seem to be involved in an Artenkreis speciation process sensu Rensch (1933).