Bug FAQSonoran Bumble Bee
Bombus sonorus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Female Sonoran bumble bees have yellow hairs on the thorax that create a black band between the wing bases, and the first three abdominal segments are solid deep-golden yellow; males have the first four abdominal segments yellow. They nest underground, often using old pocket-gopher burrows, and are found from California east to central Texas and south into southern Mexico. These bees gather pollen from plants such as cotton, sunflowers, and several wildflowers, and they can be mistaken for the yellow form of Bombus crotchii or Bombus nevadensis.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Females have the first three abdominal segments entirely yellow; males have the first four segments yellow, both in a deep golden shade.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Females show yellow thoracic hairs on the pronotum, anterior scutum, and scutellum, forming a black band between the wing bases.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range extends from California to central Texas and south into southern Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where can I find Sonoran bumble bees?
They live underground in old pocket-gopher burrows and are found from California to central Texas and into southern Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I tell this bumble bee apart from similar species?
Look for the deep golden yellow on the first three abdominal segments in females (four in males) and the black band on the thorax; other similar species lack this exact pattern.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_sonorus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.