Bug FAQBlack-and-gold Bumble Bee
Bombus auricomus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
The black-and-gold bumble bee is a fairly large bee, with workers and males about 1.7 to 2.0 cm long and queens up to 2.5 cm. It builds nests above ground in grasslands and other open habitats and is native to eastern North America, from Ontario down through the eastern United States to the Great Plains. It visits many flowering plants such as thistles, clovers, delphiniums and echinacea for food.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
This species is commonly called the black and gold bumblebee.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Workers and males measure about 1.7 to 2.0 cm, while queens can reach up to 2.5 cm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It creates nests above ground in grassland and other open habitats.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
It was once thought to be the same species as the Nevada bumblebee but is now recognized as separate.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 41 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where can I find black-and-gold bumblebees?
They nest above ground in grasslands and other open habitats across eastern North America.
Source: Wikipedia
What plants do they visit?
They feed on a variety of flowers such as thistles, clovers, delphiniums and echinacea.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_auricomus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.