[2] A recent review of all of these species worldwide has helped to clarify its distribution in Europe and northern Asia, almost to the Pacific.

However, in southern Europe, although found in Greece[4] it is an upland species with its distribution never quite reaching the Mediterranean.

[5] Compared to other bumblebee species, the individuals of B. lucorum have shorter tongues, and this characteristic enable them to rob nectar.

The darker males are mostly found in northernmost Fennoscandia, southwestern Norway, and on the island of Gotland in the Baltic.

[12] In the United Kingdom, where the species is very common, they prefer to have their nests facing south for extra warmth.

[9] Bombus lucorum is distributed widely and can be found in the Palearctic (including Japan), Oriental, Arctic, and western Nearctic realms.

[10] Its habitats include coastal, farmland, grassland, heathland, towns, gardens, upland, and woodland edges.

[9] As in many other bumblebee species, the males fly in a low patrolling circuit, depositing pheromones on grass to attract young queens.

[17] Young and old males of B. lucorum have similar quantities of labial gland secretions because the secretory activity continues throughout their lifetime with no dependence on age.

For example, B. lucorum can be identified by its main substance of the male labial gland secretion called ethyl tetradec-9-enoate.

[2] Bombus lucorum was separated from B. terrestris in the beginning of 20th century because of their morphological differences, male labial gland secretions, and mitochondrial DNA markers.

[18] While the workers of B. terrestris and B. lucorum are basically indistinguishable by their appearances as the queens of the two species have few identifiable differences in their morphologies.

The labial gland secretions of male bumblebees can be divided into two different types according to the biochemical pathways that synthesize the compounds.

They would be very difficult to tell apart solely on their morphological characteristics but they can be identified according to the different types of male labial gland secretions.

[7] However, the bees forage on many other flowers, including many garden plants, such as lavender, Hebe, Rhododendron, deadnettles, thistles, and vetches,[8] as well as ceanothus, wall flower, campanula, privet, sage, Hypericum, bramble, red bartsia, clovers, lupins, honeysuckle, sedum, knapweed, Buddleia, viper's bugloss, and trefoils, and comfrey.