Assessing Müllerian mimicry in North American bumble bees using human perception

Area of Science:

• * Evolutionary Biology
• * Behavioral Ecology
• * Entomology

Background:

• * Bumble bee mimicry is widely acknowledged but North American mimicry rings remain undefined.
• * The presence of intermediate and imperfect mimics complicates ring identification in the region.
• * Defining these mimicry rings is crucial for understanding evolutionary mimicry dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To categorize North American bumble bee mimicry rings using a human perception generalization approach.
• * To visually test for geographic concordance between species distributions and color patterns within ecoregions.
• * To establish a framework for future research on mimicry complexity.

Main Methods:

• * Utilized a generalization approach based on human perception to classify mimicry patterns.
• * Mapped bumble bee species distributions across North American ecoregions.
• * Analyzed geographic concordance of similarly colored species to identify potential mimicry rings.

Main Results:

• * Identified five distinct mimicry rings: Black, Black-cloaked, Eastern Yellow, Red, and Western Yellow.
• * Discovered a broadly distributed group of mixed and intermediate color forms.
• * Confirmed geographic concordance supporting the proposed mimicry ring structures.

Conclusions:

• * The study defines five key mimicry rings within the North American bumble bee complex.
• * This classification provides a foundation for investigating imperfect and intermediate mimicry.
• * Enables further research into other insect species involved in bumble bee mimicry.