In Chile the
beloved native bee is venerated as carrying the spirit of the dead, but its
numbers are dwindling as farmers use imported species infected with parasites
to pollinate crops
Sat 4 May
2019 10.00 BSTLast modified on Thu 9 May 2019 15.03 BST
The first
time José Montalava saw the world’s largest bumblebee he was six years old and
visiting his grandfather’s house in rural Chile. “It was in the tomato
patch, a huge, loud, fluffy orange thing buzzing around. I remember trying to
grab it, but it kept getting away, although it looked too heavy to fly,” he
recalls.
During
Montalava’s childhood, these giant golden bumblebees (Bombus dahlbomii) – which
can measure up to 40mm and have been dubbed “flying mice” – were a common sight
in the town where he grew up in central Chile. “It’s such a striking,
charismatic, colourful bumblebee that used to herald spring,” says the
36-year-old entomologist. “Now it’s totally disappeared from my hometown and
many other areas.”
Montalava
says he first became aware the bee was in trouble after he was asked to take
part in a study on the potential impact on the native species of importing a
European bumblebee.
“In 2003, we
would see thousands of the native bumblebees in the gardens of the university
just outside the capital, Santiago, where I worked. The flowers were covered
with these big, fluffy orange bees.”
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