[1] This species lives in open habitat, such as meadows and slopes.

Males congregate to seek mates.

It feeds on a variety of plant taxa, including giant hyssops, thistles, gentians, owl's clovers, locoweeds, penstemons, and clovers.

[1] It especially favors subalpine larkspur (Delphinium barbeyi) and it serves as one of the plant's main pollinators.

[3] This species has a range from southwestern Canada south to the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, and west to central California[4] This species is a host to Bombus insularis, a species of cuckoo bumblebee.