5 euro color print coin 2024 "Steinhummel"

The importance of the rock bumblebee for the ecosystem is also illustrated by the coin motif by the artist Patrick Niesel from Röthenbach a. d. Pegnitz out. It shows a female rock bumblebee, easily recognizable by its velvety black body and the red end of the abdomen. She sits on an abstracted flower, surrounded by stylized and composed hints of other plant flowers. The rock bumblebee appears to be collecting nectar; there is a pollen panty filled with pollen on its back leg. The fur-like structure of the body is effectively highlighted by a finely roughened relief structure of the coin, while the eyes and legs, for example, have no surface structure. The simple and sans serif capital lettering in the round sentence skilfully flanks the motif. The value side is identical for all coins in the series. The design, designed by artist Andre Witting from Berlin, impresses with a dignified yet dynamic depiction of the federal eagle.

It shapes the final motif of the series "Wonder World of Insects", which honors the fact that insects are an important part of our natural heritage and an indispensable part of functioning ecosystems.

The rock bumblebee gets its name because it prefers to build its nests under piles of stones or on walls. Its velvety black body has a reddish-brown tip on its abdomen. This is just as easy to recognize as its bushy fur, which often earns it the nickname “Teddy of the Skies” and protects it, above all, against the cold. She also has the ability to disengage her wings and warm up by shaking her flight muscles. The stone bumblebee can therefore be active at very low temperatures; rain, hail or snow doesn't bother it much.

The small colony of a stone bumblebee consists of a queen and up to 300 workers and drones. She “works” 18 hours a day, flying to around 1,000 different flowers during this time and collecting 12 times more nectar than a honey bee. Like all bumblebee species, it produces honey only for its own needs, but as a pollinator of wild and crop plants it is invaluable - and particularly effective: thanks to its long tongue, it can also reach deep flowers. Thanks to its “stinky feet”, it leaves behind a very unique smell that signals to its fellow flowers that a flower has already been pollinated.