About Bombus argillaceus (Scopoli, 1763)
Bombus argillaceus is a large species of bumblebee. Queens measure 24 to 28 mm (0.94 to 1.10 in) in body length, and have a long proboscis, a very oblong head, and dark wings. Males and workers are considerably smaller than queens. The thorax is yellow with a broad median black band. Queen abdomens are completely black, while the abdomens of males and workers have yellow coloration on the first tergite (abdominal segment) and the center of the second tergite, black coloration on the middle abdominal segments, and white coloration on the tail; the exception is the last tergite, which is black.
This bumblebee has a distribution that extends from the eastern Mediterranean to the Alps in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Its range extends east across Hungary as far north as Cluj in Romania, reaches eastern Kazakhstan to the east, and extends south and southeast to the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran.
In Turkey, this species lives in mountains, usually at elevations between 900 and 1,870 m (2,950 and 6,140 ft) above sea level. It has also been recorded at elevations as high as 2,855 m (9,367 ft). Its main food sources are flowering plants from four families: Boraginaceae (the forget-me-not family), Asteraceae (the aster family), Lamiaceae (the mint family), and Fabaceae (the pea family).
