Introduction of the Large Earth Bumblebee Bombus terrestris (L.) was listed as a KEY THREATENING PROCESS on Schedule 3 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 [13 February 2004].
Bumblebees, Bombus terrestris, are a relatively large, primitively eusocial bee native to Europe. Bumblebees were first recorded in Tasmania in 1992 and have since spread over a large area of the state in both urban and native bush areas (Hingston et al. 2001). They have become established throughout Tasmania in a wide range of habitats, from sea level to 1250 m altitude, within all the major native vegetation types (Hingston and McQuillan 1998). Their wide adapability?????? demonstrates the potential of the species to naturalise in NSW. At present this species is not known to occur in NSW, but could establish through accidental introduction from colonies in Tasmania or New Zealand, or deliberate introduction as a pollinating agent.
Bumblebees are specialist pollinators of a number of European plant species, either because they require a bee of a certain size (e.g. foxglove, Digitalis spp.), weight (e.g. Scotch Broom, Cytisus scoparius), or require buzz pollination to release pollen from poricidal anthers (e.g. many Solanaceae). This may facilitate an increase in the abundance and distribution of weed species. The presence of bumblebees may also disrupt pollination of native plant species (Hingston and McQuillan 1998).
Species and populations in NSW that may become threatened by the presence of Large Earth Bumblebees promoting the spread of Scotch Broom include endangered species Epacris hamiltonii, the Bathurst Copper Paralucia spinifera, the Ben Halls Gap National Park Sphagnum Moss Cool Temperate Rainforest Endangered Ecological Community, and the vulnerable terrestrial orchid Chiloglottis platyptera.
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