Other than the extinct and re-introduced Short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), this is perhaps our rarest bumblebee, now known only from a handful of sites in south Wales and southern England and generally scarce even there. It has a strong association with complex flowers in the families Lamiacaea and Fabacaea and is a distinctive greyish-green, straw-coloured species, with a dull orange tail and clear black band across the thorax.