Oligolectic on various Asteraceae. Pollen sources in Germany include Cirsium vulgare, Centaurea paniculata, Centaurea jacea, Centaurea scabiosa and Onopordum acanthium (Westrich, 1989).
Mueller (1996) lists this as an oligolectic species, specialising in Asteraceae pollen with a strong preference for Cardueae. Pollen analysis also revealed traces of Brassicaceae pollen. Muller cites Centaurea vallesiaca (Asteraceae) as a pollen source in Switzerland.
Gogala (1999) , Ivanov et al (2005) Matache & Ban (2006) state that the species is oligolectic on Asteraceae in Slovenia, Ukraine and Romania respectively.
Stanisavljević (2000) states that this is an oligolectic species, most often found on the flowers of species from the family Asteraceae (Inula, Picris, Centaurea, Achillea, Carduus).
Vereecken (in litt., 2007) reports females foraging on Centaurea nigra (Asteraceae)