Non-honey bees

Anyone who ever tried to learn bumblebee identification, knows that there are species which are very similar in colouration to each other. Moreover, there are some strange species where one colour morph is similar to one species, and another morph – to a different species. Bumblebees form mimicry rings, which are groups of species which are visually similar and live in more or less the same area. The advantage of this similarity is that predators more quickly learn which insects are not worth attacking (bumblebee females have stings which makes them a rather unpleasant lunch).