The identification and recognition of the approximately 65 bumblebee species occurring in Europe is difficult. There are few useful morphological characters and identification by the often conspicuous colouration of the hairs is very unreliable, especially because of the great variability of this colouration in many species. The male genital capsule offers the beginner many useful features and an easy way to divide the many species into about 15 groups (subgenera). Both preparation and examination of the genital capsule are considered difficult. The main obstacles are (1) delineating the parts of a genital capsule and (2) recognising the shape of these complicated three-dimensional structures. However, with a little patience and skill, even the beginner can learn these features and use them successfully after a short time. Good illustrations make it easy to find the features of these rather small structures and a simple text explains to beginners how to work with genital capsules.weiterlesen