This bumblebee is black with a red tail, an oblong head, and a long proboscis. The male has pale hairs on the collar, scutellum, and first tergite (abdominal segment).[2] The queen has a body length between 20 and 22 mm (0.79 and 0.87 in), the worker around 14 mm (0.55 in), and the male 15 mm (0.59 in).[3]
The apple humble-bee is found in western and central Europe and western Turkey, from northern France to the Perm regioninRussia, but it is declining and once had a much wider distribution.[4] It was once present in the United Kingdom and was found once in Kent recently, but it is doubtful it is still established there. [2]
This species is mainly found in wood-edges and open fields. The Turkish subspecies B. p. canus, however, lives on more or less alpine steppes at altitudes between 1,600 and 3,500 m (5,200 and 11,500 ft).[5]
^ abBenton, Ted (2006). "Appendix 1: Species Considered Extinct in Britain". Bumblebees. London, UK: HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 529–530. ISBN0007174519.