diff --git a/pymongo/collection.py b/pymongo/collection.py
index bf6d8beec3..7be1191f5d 100644
--- a/pymongo/collection.py
+++ b/pymongo/collection.py
@@ -686,7 +686,9 @@ def insert_many(self, documents, ordered=True,
 
         .. versionadded:: 3.0
         """
-        if not isinstance(documents, abc.Iterable) or not documents:
+        if (not isinstance(documents, abc.Iterable)
+                or isinstance(documents, abc.Mapping)
+                or not documents):
             raise TypeError("documents must be a non-empty list")
         inserted_ids = []
         def gen():
diff --git a/test/test_collection.py b/test/test_collection.py
index fe4bf28ad6..673816025a 100644
--- a/test/test_collection.py
+++ b/test/test_collection.py
@@ -786,6 +786,25 @@ def test_insert_many(self):
         self.assertFalse(result.acknowledged)
         self.assertEqual(20, db.test.count_documents({}))
 
+    def test_insert_many_invalid(self):
+        db = self.db
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                TypeError, "documents must be a non-empty list"):
+            db.test.insert_many({})
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                TypeError, "documents must be a non-empty list"):
+            db.test.insert_many([])
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                TypeError, "documents must be a non-empty list"):
+            db.test.insert_many(1)
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                TypeError, "documents must be a non-empty list"):
+            db.test.insert_many(RawBSONDocument(encode({'_id': 2})))
+
     def test_delete_one(self):
         self.db.test.drop()