Photo: Ivar Leidus / CC BY-SA 4.0

Bombus soroeensis

Broken-belted Bumblebee

A small bumblebee (14–16 mm) with a relatively oblong face and medium-length tongue. The body is black with two yellow bands (collar and second tergite), with the abdominal band often interrupted by black hairs in the middle, giving it the broken-belted appearance. The tail is white, often mixed with orange-yellow hairs. It nests underground in abandoned rodent burrows, with colonies of 80–150 workers. It favours grasslands, heaths, and mountain meadows, foraging on clovers, harebell, scabious, and bird's-foot trefoil. In Switzerland it occurs in the Alps and Jura mountains in montane to alpine meadows, found from about 1000 m to over 2500 m. Swiss Red List: Least Concern (LC).