Bombus occidentalis, the western bumblebee, is one of around 30 bumblebee species present in the western United States and western Canada.Pocket Guide to Identifying The Western Bumble Bee Bombus occidentalis. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. A recent review of all of its close relatives worldwide appears to have confirmed its status as a separate species.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Bombus occidentalis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens127
BINs2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections118
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus117 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 98% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 12 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.45%
Haplotypes15
BINs2
Most divergent pair1.7%
N.AmericaOther
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualBombus occidentalis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size449 880 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Bombus occidentalis0.45 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Ploidy♂1× / ♀2× by sex
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type19 768 records
Wild obs. + sensor3 656
Museum / vouchered16 112
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO17 956 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy93% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 765≤1 km 297≤10 km 89>10 km 131
3 282 georeferenced · 374 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor3 656
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy16% within 1 km
≤100 m 101≤1 km 508≤10 km 1 603>10 km 1 676
3 888 georeferenced · 12 224 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence16 112
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions22 of 48 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Beltsville, US
7 984
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
1 594
Washington, US
1 138
CNClocation not on record
968
New Haven, US
846
Wuzhou, CN
755
701
Champaign, US
448
Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
306
Santa Cruz, US
224
Colorado State Universitylocation not on record
143
Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record
121
Vancouver, CA
120
Oregon State Arthropod Collectionlocation not on record
120
US
90
OSUClocation not on record
74
Cambridge, US
64
Chicago, US
61
East Lansing, US
49
UCRClocation not on record
34
BBSLlocation not on record
30
Awka, NG
25
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
23
WSUClocation not on record
18
California State Collection of Arthropodslocation not on record
15
WIlocation not on record
15
ASUlocation not on record
10
UNHClocation not on record
8
Nelson, CA
8
Alberta Environment and Parkslocation not on record
5
San Diego, US
4
Roberts Creek, CA
3
Albuquerque, US
2
Royal British Columbia Museumlocation not on record
2
UWMEDlocation not on record
2
Provo, US
2
University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record
2
Vernal, US
2
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
1
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
1
University of Alabamalocation not on record
1
Weber State University, Bird and Mammal Collectionlocation not on record
1
University of Alberta Museums (UAM)location not on record
1
US
1
Denver, US
1
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
EL PASO, US
1
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
1
48 institutions · 16 026 of 16 112 vouchered records shown · 86 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA118 detections
Where the DNA of Bombus occidentalis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found118
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median12.8 °C 4.00–16.7
Seasonal swing summer↔winter25.1 °C
Max temp (day)18.8 °C 10.5–23.5
Min temp (night)6.70 °C -1.10–10.9
Precipitation49.0 mm/mo 36.1–86.8
Air humidity53.1 % 50.3–56.9
Moisture balance-50.9 mm/mo -90.3–-26.1
Vapour deficit669 Pa 385–939
Wind speed3.00 m/s 2.10–5.90
Cloud cover37.3 % 31.1–42.5
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 81 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility19 768 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI118 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics127 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome ~0.45 Gbp↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗