Mimicry Is Cool @bugsbeingotherbugs - Tumblr Blog

I’m getting new followers!! Hi!!

My name is Flor(they/it) and I like when bugs look like other bugs. I think it’s funny. This blog is intended to be a photo gallery full of bugs like that.

If you have bug mimicking bugs that you enjoy, please send me their scientific binomial in an ask or something and if I can find enough pics on iNat I’ll make a post to add to the collection!!

astronomy-to-zoology

Hornet Moth (Sesia apiformis)

Also known as the Hornet Clearwing, the hornet moth is no hornet but a species of sesiid moth that is native to the British Isles, Germany, Holland, and Austria (it has also been introduced to North America). This species is quite similar to the Lunar Hornet Moth (S.bembeciformis) but is distinguished by its yellow head and shoulders and black collar. Like the lunar hornet moth S.apiformis will overwinter as a larvae once or twice and adults will fly from June to July and sometimes August. Adults are often seen on poplar trees as these are their larval food plant.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Arthropoda-Insecta-Lepidoptera-Sesiidae-Sesia-S.apiformis

Images: Ab H.Baas and Gyorgy Csoka

#lepidoptera #wasp mimics

Ctenophora elegans

[©gentoo, ©helje, ©Julien Bottinelli]

Species requests are welcome!

#diptera #wasp mimics

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis)

[©Alexandre, ©Giff Beaton, ©Sophie Beaulieu]

Species requests are welcome!

#coleoptera #beetle mimics

Ripiphorus rex

[©Mason Salem, ©Steven Mlodinow]

Species requests are welcome!

#bee mimics #coleoptera #obsessed with the reduced elytra

Wasp Leafhoppers (Lissoscarta spp.)

[©Aron Bellersheim, ©danielblanco521, ©danielblanco521]

Species requests are welcome!

#hemiptera #wasp mimics

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These mid-sized, wasp-looking flies absolutely love hanging out on the cup plant in the yard. I rarely see them anywhere else. So, I have started thinking of it as the wasp-looking fly plant, which is a bit silly because all the creatures love this plant.

Cochise County Arizona, July 2025.

#wasp mimics #diptera

punishedsaints

Macrocilix maia.

#lepidoptera #fly mimics

razehider

as you might guess from the name, Milesia crabroniformis is a mimic of european hornets (Vespa crabro) and does a surprisingly good job of it, from the size to the buzzing, often giving me false hopes that i've found an actual hornet since they're not common here. ironically, what tends to give them away is their overly aggressive behavior - only a hoverfly would divebomb your face repeatedly the way they do

(August 21st, 2025)

#diptera #wasp mimics

bowelfly

I WAS ADMIRING THE APHID COLONY IN THE CORN GROWING OUT OF MY PATIO AND THEN I WAS LIKE IS THAT A MEALYBUG DESTROYER AND IT WAS!!!

#coleoptera #true bug mimics #mealybug mimics

michaelnordeman

The Criorhina ranunculi is a large and very convincing bumblebee mimic. Its dense, shaggy coat and somewhat rounded shape make it easy to mistake at first glance for a small bumblebee, but its hovering flight and large fly-like eyes reveal that it is in fact a hoverfly.

It appears in early spring and is often seen visiting flowering willow, where it feeds on nectar and pollen. The flight period is short, and encounters with the species are therefore easy to miss.

The larvae develop in decaying wood inside rot holes in mature broad-leaved trees, which means the species is closely associated with older woodland and traditional landscapes where such trees are allowed to remain.

Although the species occurs across much of Europe, it has long been considered rare in Sweden and is strongly linked to habitats rich in old hollow trees. In Värmland it has historically been very seldom recorded. The individual shown in these photographs, taken in spring 2025 while visiting flowering willow, was the first I have ever observed here.

Criorhina ranunculi/humlelik pälsblomfluga. Värmland, Sweden (1 May 2025.)

#bee mimics #diptera