Bombus vancouverensis vancouverensis Cresson, 1878

Bombus vancouverensis Cresson, 1878: 187 [♂].

     Lectotype ♂, designated by Cresson (1916: 133). CANADA, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, by H. Edwards [ANSP no. 2644].

Taxonomic notes: Franklin (1913: 329) considered Bombus vancouverensis Cresson, 1878 a synonym of Bombus edwardsii Cresson, 1878, in addition to many of the other species that have been synonymized under Bombus bifarius Cresson, 1878 s. l. in the past. In his discussion of colour variation, Franklin (1913: 333) recorded this species as one of the colour variants (male color variant 3). This taxon was also considered a synonym of Bombus bifarius bifarius Cresson by Stephen (1957: 142)

Though this species has long been considered a synonym of Bombus bifarius (Stephen 1957; Thorp et al. 1983; Williams et al. 2014), Ghisbain et al. (2020) recently recognized B. vancouverensis as a valid species with two subspecies, the typical form restricted to Vancouver Island and other islands in the Salish Sea (Ghisbain et al. 2020: 14), and the more widespread B. vancouverensis nearcticus Handlirsch, 1888. However, Ghisbain et al. (2020:7) reported that “vancouverensis” was “contained as a derived lineage within” a larger “nearctus” clade, not sister taxon too it. As such, B. vancouverensis, the older name, would be the correct species ephthet for the entire group (as indicated by Ghisbain et al. 2020), but the Vancouver and Salish Sea Island populations could be considered a unique haplotype seemingly restricted to these islands. A subspecies is a “recognized local variant of a species” (), but in this case the typical form is the local variant, largely due to having an older name.

Distribution in Canada: Cresson 1878 [BC - island, as B. vancouverensis]; Viereck et al. 1904a [BC, as B. vancouverensis Cresson]; Stephen 1957 [BC, as ]; Ghisbain et al. 2022 [BC].