Carder bumble bee
Bombus humilis Illiger, 1806
Status not recordedbees wasps and ants
The carder bumble bee (Bombus humilis) is a species in the family Apidae, order Hymenoptera. Recorded adults reach 1.8 cm in length.
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Quick facts about the carder bumble bee
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 1.2 cm – 1.8 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Nectarivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Generations a year
- One
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the carder bumble bee?
Where does the carder bumble bee live?
Not recorded
Is the carder bumble bee endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the carder bumble bee classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderHymenoptera
- familyApidae
- genusBombus
- SpeciesBombus humilis Illiger, 1806
Synonyms Apis fulvescens, Apis tumulorum, Bombus fieberanus, Bombus helferanus, Bombus helferanus appeninus, Bombus helferanus foreli, Bombus helferanus hafsahli, Bombus helferanus propeaurantiacus, Bombus helferanus quasimuscorum, Bombus helferanus subbaicalensis, Bombus humilis anglicus, Bombus humilis luteoaurantiacus, Bombus humilis paraurantiacus, Bombus humilis quasimuscorum, Bombus humilis rufoaurantiacus, Bombus insipidus, Bombus muscorum staudingeri, Bombus solstitialis, Bombus staudingeri, Bombus tristis, Bombus variabilis, Bombus variabilis aurantiacus, Bombus variabilis hafsahlianus, Bombus variabilis hafsahloides, Bombus variabilis nigrinus, Bombus variabilis notomelas, Bombus variabilis sordida, Bombus venustus, Megabombus humilis paraurantiacus, Megabombus humilis staudingerioides, Megabombus humilus staudingeri
Other names and names in other languages (21)
- Brown-banded carder beeEnglish
- Brown-banded carder bumblebeeEnglish
- Brown-banded carder-beeEnglish
- Brown-banded carder-bumble beeEnglish
- čmelák proměnlivýCzech
- Foranderlig humleDanish
- Veränderliche HummelGerman
- abejorro variableSpanish
- JaanikimalaneEstonian
- juhannuskimalainenFinnish
- Bourdon variableFrench
- Változékony poszméhHungarian
- 바이칼뒤영벌Korean
- Įvairiaspalvė kamanėLithuanian
- bakkehumleNorwegian Bokmål
- HeidehommelDutch
- Trzmiel zmiennyPolish
- Переменный шмельRussian
- čmeľ premenlivýSlovak
- backhumlaSwedish
- Джміль мінливийUkrainian
Relatives of the carder bumble bee
Other species in the same genus Bombus.

Buff-tailed bumblebee
Bombus terrestris
Common carder bee
Bombus pascuorum
Stone humble-bee
Bombus lapidarius
Garden bumblebee
Bombus hortorum
Early bumble bee
Bombus pratorum
Tree bumblebee
Bombus hypnorum
CompareCarder bumble bee vs Buff-tailed bumblebeeCarder bumble bee vs Common carder beeCarder bumble bee vs Stone humble-beeCarder bumble bee vs Garden bumblebee
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the carder bumble bee?
An adult carder bumble bee measures 1.2 cm – 1.8 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the carder bumble bee?
The carder bumble bee (Bombus humilis) belongs to the family Apidae in the order Hymenoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
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Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Carder bumble bee (Bombus humilis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/carder-bumble-bee
“Carder bumble bee (Bombus humilis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/carder-bumble-bee.
@misc{carder_bumble_bee_2026,
title = {Carder bumble bee (Bombus humilis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/carder-bumble-bee},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}