Widely recorded across Europe, with local variation in abundance and northern or southern range limits.
Fine-art photographic collection
Bombus lapidarius
A stone-nesting bumblebee whose queens return to traditional winter banks.
About this species
Red-tailed Bumble Bee
Bombus lapidarius(Linnaeus, 1758)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
The red-tailed bumblebee often nests beneath stones, slabs or in abandoned mammal burrows. Its annual colony grows from one overwintered queen into a workforce that can number several hundred individuals.
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
EuropeBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Flower-rich open habitat, woodland edge, farmland or upland habitat according to the species and region.
Diurnal; workers forage during the colony season.
Adults use nectar for energy; pollen is collected to feed developing brood.
Eusocial colony with a queen and female workers; colony cycle varies with climate.
What makes this species remarkable?
Queens have been recorded returning year after year to traditional north-facing hibernation banks used by generations of the species.
A single spring queen can found a colony of roughly 100–300 workers before producing males and new queens.
Workers actively keep developing brood within a narrow warm range, heating it with their flight muscles when the nest cools.
Sources and scientific references
More photographs
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