Red-tailed bumblebee
The red-tailed bumblebee is a fluffy black bumblebee with a bright red tail end. It buzzes from flower to flower in summer and is a very good pollinator. The boys look a little different, with a yellow band and a yellow face.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
A nest usually has only about 100 to 200 worker bees, much smaller than a honeybee hive.
The queen looks like the workers, but she is much bigger.
It can fly more than a kilometre and a half from home to find good flowers.
It shivers its flying muscles to make heat and keep its babies warm in the nest.
Males leave smelly marks on spots high up near the treetops to attract a queen.
Most asked questions about Red-tailed bumblebee
?What does the red-tailed bumblebee eat?
It drinks nectar and collects pollen from flowers.
?When can you see red-tailed bumblebees?
Mostly in summer, in June, July and August.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Bombus lapidarius
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Apidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Bombus lapidarius (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ivar Leidus. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Western honey bee
Buff-tailed bumblebee
Violet carpenter bee
Giant honey bee
Wallace's giant bee
Himalayan giant honey bee
Yellow garden spider
Isabella tiger moth
Boxelder bug
Joro spider
Japanese beetle
Wheel bug