How does the buff-tailed bumblebee see?

The buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) is a insect in the order Hymenoptera. Its eyes belong to the vision type Bee, ant and locust UV trichromat: 3 receptors (UV/blue/green), no red, very low acuity compound eye, fast CFF, polarisation.

Measured in this species: colour, sharpness and night vision. Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.

Sample scene drawn in code: a face with red lips, a green shirt, red and green apples, flowers and a colour strip, as a person sees it. — The sample scene as a person sees it.

The same sample scene rendered by the See Like Animals engine for the buff-tailed bumblebee's eyes, using the values in the table below. — The same scene rendered for the buff-tailed bumblebee (60° field of view, daylight).

See your photo as the buff-tailed bumblebeeThis species is part of the full catalogue in the tool (full unlock). Your photo stays on your device.

What stands out

It has three colour receptor classes, like most people, but one of them sees ultraviolet.
Its sharpest vision resolves 0.21 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
It stops seeing flicker at 220 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about 3.7 times slower to it.^[7][5]
Activity pattern: diurnal.

The six dials

Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.

Vision values for the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), catalogue-v1
Dial	Value	Evidence	Sources
Colour	Colour receptors 3 receptor classes: 347.5 nm (UVS), 435 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 533 nm (MWS (green)) measured in this species	Measured	^[1]
Colour	Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet	Measured
Sharpness	Acuity 0.21 cycles per degree median of 2 behavioural rows (method priority rule); acceptance_angle_deg: male / drone rows set aside (labelled alternative: 1.42); acuity_cpd: object-detection rows (grating resolution rows used) set aside (labelled…	Measured (not re-verified)	^[2]
	Angle between facets 1.2° minimum (acute-zone) interommatidial angle over sources; within apidae2019_spatial_vision: minimum (round-1 rule: mean of horizontal and vertical when both exist); interommatidial_angle_deg: male / drone rows set aside…	Measured	^[2]
	Eye type compound eye
Field of view	No value in the catalogue.
Sharp zones (foveas)	Number of foveas 0 median of 90 relatives in class Insecta: Empis prodromus, Rhamphomyia albidiventris, Rhamphomyia breviventris, Rhamphomyia maculipennis, Rhamphomyia marginata, Rhamphomyia murina	Group default	^[3]
Sharp zones (foveas)	Fovea type none	Group default	^[3]
Night vision	Activity pattern diurnal mode of 1 rows (of 1 rows): diurnal	Measured	^[4]
Night vision	Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated	Derived	^[4]
Motion (flicker fusion)	Flicker fusion frequency 220 Hz median of 1 relatives in family Apidae: Apis mellifera	Estimated	^[5][6]

Other senses

polarisation vision: optional overlay of degree/angle of linear polarisation (Group default)

Related animals

Western honey bee same vision type
Bull ant (Myrmecia gulosa) same vision type
Saharan silver ant same vision type
Bull ant (Myrmecia croslandi) same vision type
Bull ant (Myrmecia tarsata) same vision type
Bull ant (Myrmecia vindex) same vision type

More insects: all insects with measured vision data.

Sources

van der Kooi CJ, Stavenga DG, Arikawa K, Belusic G, Kelber A. 2021. Evolution of insect color vision: from spectral sensitivity to visual ecology. Annu Rev Entomol 66:435-461. Supplementary table. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-061720-071644
Kelber A, Somanathan H 2019. Spatial Vision and Visually Guided Behavior in Apidae. Insects. doi.org/10.3390/insects10120418
Comparative data for dance fly eye morphology and female ornamentation (Empididae). Data: Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z
Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018

Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?