Bees have well developed forewings and hind wings.įlies have large compound eyes that occupy most of the head, while bees have narrow compound eyes on the sides of the head. Flies have a set of front wings (forewings), but the hind wings are small, knob-like balancing organs called halteres, so flies appear to have only two wings (Figure 1). Some flies, especially hover flies and bee flies, can be mistaken for bees because their body form, color and hair patterns, buzzing sounds and behaviors mimic bees. This brief guide will help you tell some of these insects apart. Whether you call them “bee-mimics,” “wanna-bees” or “yellow-stripey-things,” most are beneficial helpers in our yards and gardens. In fact, many insects imitate bees in order to avoid unwanted attention. We will look more closely at some of these different types of bumblebees in upcoming blog posts.Editor's note: This article was a joint collaboration between North Dakota State University and Michigan State University Extension.Įveryone knows bees love to visit flowers, but not everything you see visiting flowers or buzzing around the garden is a bee. It is a unique bee with buzz pollination capabilities, helicopter-hovering flight style, loud buzzing, and overall inclination to be bombastically different. The bumblebee is beloved by many people around the world. This social group of bees can have up to 200 worker bees at the nest. These are widespread and can be seen all over the UK through late November. They have long tongues so they can access honeysuckle and foxglove and other such flowers.Īnd then there is the common carder bumblebee (bombus pascuorum). Small and large Garden bumblebees (bombus hortorum) nest in colonies of around 100 bees. The worker Early bumblebees frequently lose the yellow abdominal band of the queen and look much darker than she does. They are important pollinators but live in small underground colonies of up to 100 workers. The Early bumblebee (bombus pratorum) refers to small queens that emerge earlier than most, between March and May, and forage on soft fruits like blackberries and raspberries. Uniform-tailed bumblebees are the least flamboyant, their tail color is the same as the rest of their bodies. These bees have a taste for thistle, bird’s foot trefoil and budleia flowers. The Red-tailed bumblebees (bombus lapidarius) have a tail that can look orange, but it is red. In contrast, the Garden bumblebee has three yellow bands and a white tail. Except the queen, who has an orange buff tail. Worker Buff-tailed bumblebees have white tails and are black and yellow banded, with two yellow bands. White-tailed bumblebees (bombus lucorum) are widespread in the UK and forage from early spring to early autumn. This 5:03-minute video by Bumblebee Trust shows us how to identify the Big 8: The 8 most common species: Common carder, Tree, Early, Garden, Red-Tailed, White-Tailed, Heath and Buff-Tailed. White tails range in color from white to yellow, red tails are red, and uniform tails are usually ginger in color but the same color as the abdomen. They hover around flowers not to eat, but to find a mate. They can be identified by their shaggy, hairy look, and they have lots of facial hair. They seem lazier than female worker bees, taking time to sit on flowers but not gathering pollen. Male bumblebees usually emerge in late summer. Of these, the tail color is often the easiest to see. The best tell-tale body parts for identifying them are the face, tail, legs, and stripes, but these can be hidden from view if the bumblebee curls up. The names of the 8 most common species that account for the highest sightings are shown below. Parasitic bumblebees account for the 6 cuckoo bumblebee species, and the remaining 11 species are highly localized, and habitat driven. The rest of the bumblebees belong mainly to two groups. Most species have different colors, and the queens can look quite different to workers and males.Īccording to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, 95-99% of the bees you see will belong to just 7 or 8 bumblebee species. Until you know which tell-tale signs to look for. There are 24 species of bumblebees in the UK, and it can be hard to tell one from the other.
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