Photo: Donald Hobern / CC BY 2.0

Bombus lapidarius

Red-tailed Bumblebee

A large, distinctive bumblebee with a velvety black body and a bright orange-red tail. Queens (20–22 mm) emerge early in spring and establish colonies of up to 300 workers in cavities underground, typically under stones, in old rodent burrows, or at the base of dry stone walls — the species name 'lapidarius' means 'dwelling among stones'. Males are smaller with yellow facial hair and faint yellow bands on the thorax. One of the 'Big Eight' common bumblebees across Europe, it is widespread in Switzerland from lowland gardens and parks up to alpine meadows at 2400 m. It has a medium-length tongue and visits a wide range of flowers including dandelions, knapweeds, clovers, thyme, and lavender. The cuckoo bumblebee Bombus rupestris is its specialist brood parasite. In Swiss cities such as Zurich it is very common and widely distributed in gardens, parks, orchards, and ruderal areas. Swiss Red List: Least Concern (LC).