Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, ...

What’s Happening

Listen up: After scientists accidentally found out that the common eastern bumblebee can withstand flood conditions, they wanted to investigate what makes that super-ability possible Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week After scientists accidentally found out that the common eastern bumblebee can withstand flood conditions, they wanted to investigate what makes that super-ability possible Andrea Lius Get our !

Common eastern bumblebee queens use underwater breathing and anaerobic metabolism to survive when submerged. Lucas Borg-Darveau / Proceedings of the Royal Society B You may not think of bees as underground animals. (and honestly, same)

But more than 80 percent of bee species , including many bumblebees, actually nest in the ground—and there, they are vulnerable to being submerged in water.

The Details

Bumblebees’ life cycles are in tune with seasonal changes. The insects are most active in summer.

, the majority of the colony—the female workers, the male drones and the old queen—has died off. New queens spend the winter in the soil “diapausing,” the insect version of hibernating, during which they conserve energy so they can start new colonies come spring.

Why This Matters

But as these bees wait out the winter, they can face serious threats. Snow may melt and rain may fall, saturating the soil with water and putting the queens at risk of drowning. For this reason, “insects that diapause in the soil must be prepared to be covered in water,” says Elizabeth Crone , an ecologist at the University of California, Davis.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

Key Takeaways

• A serendipitous 2024 discovery spilled that bumblebee queens can withstand submersion in water for up to a week.
• But scientists didn’t understand exactly how the insects were able to survive.
• Now, in a study published yesterday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , they’ve begun to uncover the answer.
• It turns out that the diapausing bumblebee queens are actually breathing underwater .

The Bottom Line

It turns out that the diapausing bumblebee queens are actually breathing underwater . That wouldn’t be a big deal for many aquatic insects, such as diving beetles .

What’s your take on this whole situation?