Across much of the Palaearctic, from Europe through temperate Asia, with distribution varying by subspecies and habitat.
Fine-art photographic collection
Bombus campestris
A bumblebee queen that steals an entire workforce instead of raising one.
About this species
Field Cuckoo Bumble Bee
Bombus campestris(Panzer, 1801)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Bombus campestris is a cuckoo bumblebee with no worker caste. A female enters the nest of a carder bumblebee, takes control and forces the resident workers to rear her reproductive offspring.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Bombus
Accepted species or infraspecific taxon in the current GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment; unsupported details have been omitted rather than inferred. · checked 2026-07-15
Palaearctic regionBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Flower-rich habitats where suitable host bumblebees establish colonies.
Females appear after host colonies are established.
Adults feed on nectar; females do not collect pollen for a worker brood.
Obligate social parasite of other bumblebees.
What makes this species remarkable?
The species produces no workers at all; every surviving daughter is a future reproductive female rather than a labourer.
A female lacks pollen baskets because she never provisions brood—she commandeers the host colony’s workers to do it.
It attacks several carder-bee species, entering an established social nest and redirecting its entire workforce towards parasite offspring.