What else do I need to know?
Some insects share similar characteristics to bumblebees in their colour patterns and furriness of the body. Some species of hoverflies and solitary bees are good mimics of bumblebees.
As if this isn’t complicated enough, there are also cuckoo bumblebees which can look very alike the true bumblebees. These are bumblebees that live in other bumblebee's nest and have no worker caste as they rely on their host to take care of their young.
The surest way to tell them apart is to look for the pollen basket, which is carried on the back legs of the bumblebee. True female bumblebees carry pollen in a special basket (the 'corbicula') on their back legs to take back to the nest and used to feed their larvae. Male and cuckoo bumblebees, and most other mimcs, do not have a pollen basket on their back legs.
Please look for this special feature on your bumblebees!
 Denis Greenough.jpg) |
| Female buff-tailed bumblebee carrying pollen on its back legs (c) Denis Greenough - The colour of the pollen load will vary depending on the flowers that the bumblebee visited and forage on. |
