Where are bumblebees found?
The map below shows the distribution of bumblebee diversity as counts of species richness around the world. The number of indigenous species of bumblebees (excluding introductions) is recorded within each large equal-area (611,000 km²) grid cell. Equal-area grid cells are important for reducing bias from species-area effects when comparing regional richness (otherwise richness tends to be affected strongly by the size of an area). An equal-area colour scale is used to emphasise the differences among regions. Red shows the richest regions, with a white spot showing the primary global hotspot in Sichuan/Gansu. In the Old World, bumblebees are particularly species rich in the southern Tertiary mountains that run from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya westwards to the Alps and Pyrenees, with another area of high richness in the north-temperate forest-steppe zone running eastwards from the Baltic to Inner Mongolia. In the New World, bumblebees are particularly species-rich in the wes
