[3] Bombus ruderarius is a relatively small bumblebee with a wide abdomen, an oblong face, and a fairly long tongue.

[5] Their colour is prominently black, with a red tail; among males, however, a lighter form exists with yellow-green hairs on the thorax and the first two terga (abdominal segments).

The corbicula (pollen basket) on the hind legs of females (queens and workers) is covered with yellow-red hair.

[4] This species is found in Europe and northwest Asia from Ireland and Great Britain in the west to Siberia and northwest China in the east, northwards to the Gulf of Botnia and the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, and southwards to North Africa, southern Italy, Greece, and the Balkans.

The distribution is uneven; in North Africa it is considered very rare, while in places such as the east Pyrenees, it is very common, accounting for more than half of all bumblebees in the area.