 The brightly coloured pile of the bumblebee is an aposematic ( warning ) signal , given that females can inflict a painful sting . Depending on the species and morph , the warning colours range from entirely black , to bright yellow , red , orange , white , and pink . Dipteran flies in the families Syrphidae ( hoverflies ) , Asilidae ( robber flies ) , Tabanidae ( horseflies ) , Oestridae ( bot or warble flies ) and Bombyliidae ( bee flies ) all include Batesian mimics of bumblebees , resembling them closely enough to deceive at least some predators . 
