Effect of Different Temperatures on Colony Characteristics of Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Muhammad Nasir 1, *, Ata-ul-Mohsan 2 , Munir Ahmad 2 , Shafqat Saeed 3 , Muhammad Asif Aziz 2 , Muhammad Imran 4 and Umer Ayyaz Aslam Sheikh 4 1 Department of Entomology, The University of Haripur, Haripur, KPK 2 Department of Entomology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi 3 Department of Entomology, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, Multan 4 Department of Entomology, University of the Poonch Rawalakot, AJ&K Article Information Received 19 January 2017 Revised 11 May 2018 Accepted 06 August 2018 Available online 02 May 2019 Authors’ Contribution MN, AM and MA designed and executed the research and wrote the article. MI and UAAS helped in establishment of bumblebee culture and collection of data. AA and SS helped in data analysis. Key words Bombus terrestris, Colony initiation, Colony development, Rearing, Temperature. In the present study, effect of fve different temperatures (24 ºC, 26 ºC, 28 ºC, 30 ºC and 32 ºC) was studies on different colony characteristic of post-hibernated queens of Bombus terrestris during fight activity period and solitary phase of development. Results showed that survival rate and colony initiation rate of the queen was highest at 28 ºC and 30 ºC. Different parameters in the initial stage of colony growth like pre-oviposition period and emergence timing of the frst worker were observed best at 28 and 30 ºC. Number of workers produced in the frst brood and in the total lifespan of the colony was also observed higher at 28 ºC. Higher number of progeny queens was produced at temperature treatment of 30 ºC. Therefore, 28-30 ºC temperature exposure to the post-hibernated queens was found the best for artifcial rearing of B. terrestris and developing strong colony characteristics. INTRODUCTION P ollinators provide key ecosystem services that empower plant to produce fruits and seeds. Bumblebees are most important pollinators of agriculture both in open feld conditions and protected farming systems (Corbet et al., 1991; Ahmad et al., 2015). These pollinators bees are often described as primitively eusocial insects which possess 300 species. Latest classifcations place all of the identifed species in a single genus Bombus meaning ‘booming’ (Prys-Jones and Corbet, 1991). These are mainly confned to temperate regions of the world due to their certain temperature requirement (Williams, 2007). Greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the key crop pollinated by bumblebees globally (Dogterom et al., 1998; Morandin et al., 2001; Winter et al., 2006). Until present, pollination of glasshouse tomatoes has been carried out by hand with a vibrating wand, no doubt a very tedious job and expensive in terms of labour (Cribb, 1990). Worldwide, about 95% of bumblebee sales are for greenhouse tomato which comprises a more than 40, 000 hectares of greenhouse crops. Tomato crop in greenhouse culture is usually grown all the year which require more than 50 bumblebee hives per hectare. The value of these * Corresponding author: nasir.uaar@gmail.com 0030-9923/2019/0004-1315 $ 9.00/0 Copyright 2019 Zoological Society of Pakistan bumblebee pollinated tomato crops is estimated to be € 12000 million per year (Velthuis and van Doorn, 2006). On a commercial scale, bumblebee rearing started in 1987 and has been available in portable boxes for crop pollination (Mitsuhata, 2000). Worldwide there are about more than 30 Bombi-culture industries but most of the market share is captured by three companies. Koppert Biological Systems (Netherland), Biobest (Belgium) and BBB (Bunting Brinkman Bees, Netherlands) are the biggest producers of bumblebee in the world (Velthuis and van Doorn, 2006). European bumblebee, Bombus terrestris is the most preferred species for bumblebee breeder. It is easily available in Europe where the technique for year round rearing and commercial production has evolved (Velthuis and van Doorn, 2006). Large colony size, wide distribution, adaptability to diverse climatic condition, habitats and fower types makes it a hardy and effcient pollinator favoured in commercial rearing (Velthuis and van Doorn, 2006). It can visit 20 to 50 simple, small fowers per minute and in the case of red clover between 20 to 35 fowers per minute (Free, 1993). Bombus terrestris is univoltine in nature and its life cycle has two phase (i) solitary phase and (ii) social phase. B. terrestris colonies are comprised of different caste for their reproductive, foraging, defence and other tasks necessary for their survival. In the solitary phase of their life cycle, queens enter the diapauses after successful ABSTRACT Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 51(4), pp 1315-1322, 2019. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/2019.51.4.1315.1322