Bees Mimicry


Bee - the mimic model

Bees feed on flowers. Bees have powerful defense mechanisms such as painful sting and group defense. Most predators will avoid bees. Bees are the ideal model for other insects which also feed on flowers. Most bees mimics feed on nectar and are the pollinators of plants as well.

Followings are the bees mimicry examples that we found so far.

Bee Fly - Family Bombyliidae

Most of the flies in family Bombyliidae mimic wasps or bees (Batesian mimics of Hymenoptera). However, they have stout bodies and do not have narrowed waist. Their wings are easily recognized with distinctive vein pattern, usually dark in colour, some with patterns or spots. When at rest, their wings are flat in outspread position.


Hover Fly - Family Syrphidae

Hover Flies may sometimes confused with stinging bees or wasps because of their mimic colour (Batesian mimics of Hymenoptera). Their bodies are medium to slender. On their abdomen there are the yellow-black wasps pattern and the narrow waist mimic pattern. Hover Flies visit flowers as bees and wasps. They are major pollinators of some flower plants. They are usually seen hovering or resting on flowers.


March Fly - Family Tabanidae

All male March Flies feed on nectar. Some species of female feed on blood, they target on horse, cattle and humans. Some March Fly species mimic bees in apparent.