> Does anybody know whether my conjecture 
> about the wings of the 46 N. American species 
> of bumble being sufficiently different from each 
> other to be a useful aid in identifying species is correct?

Yes, this has been verified several times, most recently here:

http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/93/03/48/PDF/hal-00930348.pdf‎
http://tinyurl.com/lwpnezt

These days with hi-rez digital cameras, one should be able to shoot pix of
resting bumblebee wings and get some pattern matching done "in  the cloud",
for a game of "Name That Bumblebee".  But at least for the local bumbles
around NYC, Long Island, and CT, I think they can all be ID-ed by coloring
and body shape.

...And isn’t expecting any bee to hold still for a photo the path to
madness?

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