Buff-tailed Bumblebee
Bombus terrestris
The queen can be recognised by her buff-white tail, while workers have a pure white tail and can hardly be told apart from the white-tailed bumblebee except by their slightly darker yellow bands. The species is bred worldwide and used for pollination in greenhouses, above all for tomatoes.
- Group
- A Small World
- Photos
- 2
- Taken
- 2019–2025
Profile: Buff-tailed Bumblebee
- Family
- Bees (Apidae)
- Size
- Queens approx. 20–23 mm, workers approx. 11–17 mm
- Habitat
- Open habitats of all kinds and open woodland, plus parks and gardens; nests usually underground in old mouse or mole burrows.
- Diet
- Exclusively nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers, such as clover, berry bushes and fruit trees; on tomatoes she shakes the pollen out of the flowers by vibration.
- When to see
- The overwintered queens are among the earliest bumblebees of the year and are often seen searching for nest sites in February and March; the colony peaks in early summer, and in autumn all but the mated young queens die.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)