Behaviour
Bombus distinguendus feeding on clover © D Goulson
Feeding
Bumblebees are among the most important pollinators in many natural and agricultural systems.
Bombus distinguendus has a relatively long tongue among bumblebees and visits deep flowers like red clover, of which it is a pollinator.
Bombus distinguendus also likes other legumes, yellow rattle, marsh woundwort, knapweeds and thistles (so especially species of the plant families Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Lamaceae). Like bumblebees in general, it is not a narrow specialist on a particular plant species.
Long-tongued bumblebees tend to collect pollen to feed their larvae from the same flowers from which they collect nectar to fuel flight.