Photo: gailhampshire / CC BY 2.0

Bombus monticola

Bilberry Bumblebee

A small, compact mountain bumblebee with a broad head and short tongue. Queens (up to 16 mm) have a black thorax with a yellow collar and scutellum edge, a black first tergite, and a yellow to orange-red abdomen tip. It is a boreo-alpine species found in high-elevation habitats. In Switzerland it occurs in the Alps from about 1500 m to over 2500 m in alpine meadows, foraging on bilberries (Vaccinium), clovers, and asters. It nests underground in abandoned small mammal burrows, forming small colonies of fewer than 50 workers. It is parasitised by Bombus sylvestris. Swiss Red List: Least Concern (LC).