Bug FAQLarge Garden Bumble Bee
Bombus ruderatus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Also called: Large Garden Humble-bee, Large Garden (Ruderal) Bumblebee, Ruderal Bumblebee, Variably-banded Bumblebee
Queens grow to about 22 mm, workers to 16 mm and males to 15 mm in length. They live in large, flower-rich meadow areas and nest underground. In Argentina they feed mainly on plants from the Fabaceae, Alstroemeriaceae and Rosaceae families.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Their bodies are black with two yellow bands on the thorax and a thin yellow band on the abdomen. They have a long face and tongue suited for long-tubed flowers.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Queens reach about 22 mm, workers about 16 mm and males about 15 mm long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They prefer large, flower-rich meadowlands with many long-corolla plants. Most nests are built underground.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
In Argentina they commonly feed on Fabaceae, Alstroemeriaceae and Rosaceae plants. Newly emerged queens eat more pollen than the smaller males.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Queens may return to their original nest site and evaluate it for colonization. Male-biased sex ratios can occur when queens mate with multiple males.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Foraging resources need to be available from April to September. Males usually emerge before new queens.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
They are native to Europe and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
They are similar in size and coloration to Bombus hortorum, making identification difficult.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Indiana, Massachusetts.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_ruderatus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.