Southeastern Europe, the Aegean region, Anatolia and neighbouring western Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Bombus niveatus
A bumblebee that can evict nesting birds and take over their insulated homes.
About this species
Bombus niveatusKriechbaumer, 1870
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Bombus niveatus is a Eurasian bumblebee with an extraordinary record of occupying bird nest boxes. Queens have invaded active common-redstart nests, using the birds' carefully built lining as a ready-made warm nursery.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Bombus
Accepted species. The profile uses the current Bombus niveatus concept and does not assign an English common name because none was verified in the linked GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment. · checked 2026-07-15
Southeastern Europe and western AsiaBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
What makes this species remarkable?
In one study, bumblebees invaded nineteen of forty-eight common-redstart nests — roughly forty percent of the boxes examined.
Queens could displace adult birds even when eggs or chicks were already present, converting a vertebrate nest into a bumblebee colony site.
The reused feather, hair and plant lining provides insulation that the queen would otherwise have to find or assemble before raising her first workers.