Bombus (Psithyrus) ashtoni

Bombus (Psithyrus) ashtoni (Cresson, 1864) Counties: Aitkin, Anoka, Becker, Beltrami, Carver, Cass, Clay, Clearwater, Cook, Crow Wing, Goodhue, Hennepin, Hubbard, Isanti, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Norman, Otter Tail, Pine, Polk, Ramsey, Roseau, Saint Louis, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, Wabasha, Wadena, Washington. Comments: Although B. ashtoni has been proposed to be a junior synonym of B. bohemicus (Seidl) (Williams et al. 2014), a widespread species in the Palearctic, we are retaining the old name because the taxonomic status remains unclear and we take a conservative approach to combining the species given the level of conservation concern for this species. Bombus ashtoni has experienced precipitous declines and has been extirpated from Minnesota, with the last confirmed state records from the year 2000. It is a social parasite of B. affinis and B. terricola, which have also declined in Minnesota.
Published as part of Portman, Zachary M., Gardner, Joel, Lane, Ian G., Gerjets, Nicole, Petersen, Jessica D., Ascher, John S., Arduser, Mike, Evans, Elaine C., Boyd, Crystal, Thomson, Robin & Cariveau, Daniel P., 2023, A checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Minnesota, pp. 1-95 in Zootaxa 5304 (1) on page 29, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5304.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8048569
{"references":["Williams, P., Thorp, R., Richardson, L. & Colla, S. (2014) Bumble bees of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 208 pp."]}