Hill cuckoo bee
Bombus rupestris (Fabricius, 1793)
Status not recordedbees wasps and ants
The hill cuckoo bee (Bombus rupestris) is a species in the family Apidae, order Hymenoptera. Recorded adults reach 2.4 cm in length.
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Quick facts about the hill cuckoo bee
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 1.5 cm – 2.4 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Nectarivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forest, grassland, human_modified
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the hill cuckoo bee?
Where does the hill cuckoo bee live?
Not recorded
Is the hill cuckoo 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 hill cuckoo bee classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderHymenoptera
- familyApidae
- genusBombus
- SpeciesBombus rupestris (Fabricius, 1793)
Synonyms Apis albinella, Apis arenaria, Apis frutetorum, Apis rupe, Apis rupestris, Bombus albinellus, Bombus obscurus, Bombus rupestris buyssoni, Bombus rupestris vasco, Psithyrus frutetorum interruptus, Psithyrus interruptus, Psithyrus pyrenaeus, Psithyrus rupestris, Psithyrus rupestris arnoldi, Psithyrus rupestris buyssoni, Psithyrus rupestris dobrotvorski, Psithyrus rupestris flavidus, Psithyrus rupestris flavonicus, Psithyrus rupestris hispanicus, Psithyrus rupestris interruptus, Psithyrus rupestris orientalis, Psithyrus rupestris pseudoflavonicus, Psithyrus rupestris pyrenaeus, Psithyrus rupestris rufescens, Psithyrus rupestris sahunensis, Psithyrus rupestris siculus, Psithyrus rupestris solowiowi, Psithyrus rupestris valesianus, Psithyrus rupestris vasco, Psithyrus ruprestris armeniacus, Psithyrus vasco
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- Hill cuckoo bumble beeEnglish
- Hill cuckoo-beeEnglish
- Red-tailed (hill) cuckoo beeEnglish
- Red-tailed cuckoo beeEnglish
- Red-tailed cuckoo bumble beeEnglish
- pačmelák cizopasnýCzech
- StensnyltehumleDanish
- Felsen-KuckuckshummelGerman
- Kivi-kägukimalaneEstonian
- kivikkoloiskimalainenFinnish
- Psithyre des rochersFrench
- kövi kakukkposzméhHungarian
- Juodoji gegutkamanėLithuanian
- steingjøkhumleNorwegian Bokmål
- Rode koekoekshommelDutch
- steingaukhumleNorwegian Nynorsk
- Trzmielec czarnyPolish
- Шмель-кукушка каменныйRussian
- pačmeľ skalnýSlovak
- stensnylthumlaSwedish
- Джміль-зозуля скельнийUkrainian
- Rotschwarze KuckuckshummelGerman
- Шмель-кукушка каменного шмеляRussian
Relatives of the hill cuckoo 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
CompareHill cuckoo bee vs Buff-tailed bumblebeeHill cuckoo bee vs Common carder beeHill cuckoo bee vs Stone humble-beeHill cuckoo bee vs Garden bumblebee
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the hill cuckoo bee?
An adult hill cuckoo bee measures 1.5 cm – 2.4 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the hill cuckoo bee?
The hill cuckoo bee (Bombus rupestris) 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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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Hill cuckoo bee (Bombus rupestris). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/hill-cuckoo-bee
“Hill cuckoo bee (Bombus rupestris).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/hill-cuckoo-bee.
@misc{hill_cuckoo_bee_2026,
title = {Hill cuckoo bee (Bombus rupestris)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/hill-cuckoo-bee},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}