About the book

Bumblebees are of great ecological importance as pollinators in large parts of Europe. The species have been well known for a long time, but surprisingly they are often difficult to identify even for experienced specialists. With few exceptions, the females of bumblebees (queens and workers) are morphologically very uniform, and the distinguishing features are inconspicuous. Male bumblebees, on the other hand, have morphological features in their genital capsules that can be used to quickly and reliably identify many species. Unfortunately, however, these features of the genital capsule are only treated in passing in most publications, often only the view of the dorsal side is shown, and brief reference is made to this figure. To be successful in species identification, these features of the genital capsule are of great value.

The genital capsule of the bumblebee is almost always shown in dorsal view. This may suffice as a quick aid in species identification. However, it is not sufficient to get an idea of the spatial arrangement of these complex morphological structures. Images are always two-dimensional projections; they cannot depict the three-dimensional shape of a structure. To see the actual shape of an object, one must look at several projections from different angles.

Not everyone who wants to study bumblebees has access to a really good stereo microscope. Hopefully, the present scanning images will help to overcome this deficiency: They should give as good a picture of reality as possible. Of course, they cannot replace reality, the close examination of a real genital capsule.