Small garden bumblebee  (Bombus hortorum)

Information authenticated by Robin Williams.

• Antennae: pair of sensory structures on the head of invertebrates.
• Caste: in social insect colonies, a group of individuals that are structurally and/ or behaviourally distinct, performing certain tasks. Examples are the soldier caste of termites and ants, and the workers of bees.
• Colony: a group of organisms living together, individuals in the group are not physiologically connected and may not be related, such as a colony of birds. Another meaning refers to organisms, such as bryozoans, which are composed of numerous genetically identical modules (also referred to as zooids or 'individuals'), which are produced by budding and remain physiologically connected.
• Hibernate: a winter survival strategy characteristic of some mammals in which an animal's metabolic rate slows down and a state of deep sleep is attained. Whilst hibernating, animals survive on stored reserves of fat that they have accumulated in summer. In insects, the correct term for hibernation is 'diapause', a temporary pause in development and growth. Any stage of the lifecycle (eggs, larvae, pupae or adults) may enter diapause, which is typically associated with winter.
• Larvae: stage in an animal's lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
• Palaearctic: the region that includes Europe, the part of Asia to the north of the Himalayan-Tibetan barrier, North Africa and most of Arabia.
• Pupae: stage in an insect's development when huge changes occur, which reorganise the larval form into the adult form. In butterflies the pupa is also called a chrysalis.
• Pupal stage: stage in an insect's development, when huge changes occur that reorganise the larval form into the adult form. In butterflies the pupa is also called a chrysalis.
• Thorax: part of the body located near the head in animals. In insects, the three segments between the head and the abdomen, each of which has a pair of legs.

1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (March 2003): http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Williams, R. British bumblebees with particular emphasis on the county of Somerset (3rd edition revised 3/2003). Vanellus Publications, Wedmore, Somerset.
3. Chinery, M. (1986) Collins guide to the insects of Britain and Western Europe. William Collins sons and Co Ltd., London.
4. Zahradnik, J. & Severa, F. (1999) A field guide in colour to bees and wasps. 2nd Edition. Blitz Editions, Leicester
5. Free, J. B. & Butler, C. G. (1959) The New Naturalist: Bumblebees. Collins, London.
6. Natural History Museum Bombus (March 2003): http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/bombus/index.html
7. Prys-Jones & Corbet (revised 1991) Bumblebees, Naturalists Handbooks 6, published for the Company of Biologists by Richmond Press, Slough.
8. Natural History Museum: Distribution and decline of British bumblebees. (March 2003): http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/bombus/decline.html