Bees are part of the pollinators guild altogether with butterflies, flies, beetles and other insects.
All of them play a fundamental role in plant reproduction, but bees are a bit special amongst them. While other pollinators visit flowers only to feed themselves, female bees collect on flowers the nurture for their well-cared brood.
The long bee tongue (ligula) is used to collect nectar from flowers, whilst the long and plumose hairs are used to gather the pollen grains. However, bees make up a surprisingly diverse group in shape, color and size. Thus, we can find on flowers almost hairless bees with short ligule, which we cannot easily distinguish from the predatory wasps from which they evolved millions of years ago.
