It occurs throughout most of Canada, its distribution extending into Alaska and the western contiguous United States.

Its food plants include sandworts, rabbitbrush, fireweeds, lupines, coyote mints, butterburs, mountain heathers, and groundsels.

[1] This was one of two bees featured in a study showing how climate change may be affecting their morphology.

As the current climate change progresses, longer-tongued individuals are becoming less common in the population because flowers with long corollas are becoming less abundant.

[3] This species is very similar to the black-tailed bumblebee (B. melanopygus), the two sometimes having nearly identical color patterns.