The combination of the concentration of formic acid and the duration of fumigation (CT product) during indoor treatments of honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colonies to control the varroa mite, Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman, determines the efficacy of the treatment. Because high concentrations can cause queen mortality, we hypothesized that a high CT product given as a low concentration ove...

Hygienic behaviour performed by middle!aged worker bees is an important intranidal task in colonies of the honey bee Apis mellifera "L[#[ It comprises detecting diseased brood in the larval and pupal stages and removing all such infected brood\ thereby decreasing the incidence of infection[ Hygienic behaviour consists of two task!components] uncapping cells and removing the cell contents[ The a...

Surveys of 16S rDNA sequences from the honey bee, Apis mellifera, have revealed the presence of eight distinctive bacterial phylotypes in intestinal tracts of adult worker bees. Because previous studies have been limited to relatively few sequences from samples pooled from multiple hosts, the extent of variation in this microbiota among individuals within and between colonies and locations has ...

1. In contrast to other social bees, bumble-bees exhibit considerable size variation within the worker caste. This size variation has not been adequately explained, although it is known that larger workers tend to be foragers and smaller bees spend more time in the nest. We quantify size variation and mean size for foragers of 22 bumblebee species inhabiting climates ranging from arctic and mon...

Gamma irradiation is known to inactivate various pathogens that negatively affect honey bee health. Bee pathogens, such as Deformed wing virus (DWV) and Nosema spp., have a deleterious impact on foraging activities and bee survival, and have been detected in combs. In this study, we assessed the effects of gamma irradiation on the flight activities, pathogen load, and survival of two honey bee ...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are eusocial insects and well known for their complex division of labor and associative learning capability(1, 2). The worker bees spend the first half of their life inside the dark hive, where they are nursing the larvae or building the regular hexagonal combs for food (e.g. pollen or nectar) and brood(3). The antennae are extraordinary multisensory feelers and p...

There is no clear single factor to date that explains colony loss in bees, but one factor proposed is the wide-spread application of agrochemicals. Concentrations of 14 organophosphorous insecticides (OPs) in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and hive matrices (honey and pollen) were measured to assess their hazard to honey bees. Samples were collected during spring and summer of 2013, from 5 provinc...

Two experiments were conducted testing for lethal and sublethal effects of the transgenicproteinsCry1Acandchitinase, and thechemical seedand soil treatment imidaclopridonbumble bees (Bombus occidentalis Greene and B. impatiens Cresson, Hymenoptera: Apidae). In the Þrst experiment, B. occidentalis colonies were exposed to realistic residue levels of Cry1Ac, chitinase, and imidacloprid found in p...