Bembix rostrata displays distinctive behaviour in front of its nest, digging its burrows with fast, synchronised movements of its forelegs.

Its size (15–24 mm or 0.59–0.94 in), striking yellow and black-striped abdomen and the labrum, extended into a narrow beak, are distinctive features.

Bembix rostrata forms colonies between a dozen and several hundred insects, where the females each construct a tube up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long containing a single brood cell.

This is stocked with dozens of insects, predominantly large flies (Tabanidae, Syrphidae), which provide the larva with food for its two-week development to the imago stage.

The species has become rare due to loss of large open-sand surfaces in warm areas, such as in the sand dunes of the upper Rhine Graben.