{"title":"Oxalic acid in cellulose strips: towards an efficient and sustainable approach for the control of Varroa destructor","authors":"Belén Branchiccela, Sebastián Díaz-Cetti, Gustavo Ramallo, Yamandú Mendoza","doi":"10.1007/s13592-025-01149-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-025-01149-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>\u0000<i>V</i><i>arroa destructor</i> is the main sanitary problem for honey bee populations worldwide. Current synthetic acaricides used to control the mite’s infestations have drawbacks such as negative effects on bee health, residues in hive products, and mite resistance development. As an alternative, the natural compound oxalic acid (OA) has shown acaricidal properties and commercial products are now available on the market. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of OA and glycerin in cellulose strips for <i>V. destructor</i> control, considering factors like dose, method of administration, colony development stage, and initial mite infestation levels. The research also analyzed OA residues and the main honey quality parameters during the nectar flow period. Field experiments conducted in different seasons suggested that the use of OA and glycerin in cellulose strips is an excellent strategy for <i>V. destructor</i> control. Its efficacy depends on the time of the year it is applied, the dose, and the method of administration. In addition, its use does not affect the quality parameters of the honey. Considering the negative impact of <i>V. destructor</i> on honey bee colonies and the urgent need of alternative control strategies to synthetic acaricides, the results obtained in this study demonstrate that this product is a promising tool for controlling <i>V. destructor</i>.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143373270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-02-07DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01145-w
Sara Hellström, Karsten Seidelmann, Roberto Colombo, Giorgia Serra, Giulia Lora, Gian Carlo Gaboardi, Robert J. Paxton
{"title":"The ground-nesting bee Anthophora plumipes as a model species for assessing effects of soil-mediated pesticide exposure","authors":"Sara Hellström, Karsten Seidelmann, Roberto Colombo, Giorgia Serra, Giulia Lora, Gian Carlo Gaboardi, Robert J. Paxton","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01145-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01145-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Though many wild bee species nest in the ground, little is known of their potential exposure to pesticide residues in soil, or the effects of such exposure. Here, we introduce <i>Anthophora plumipes</i> as a potential model ground-nesting solitary bee species for controlled exposure to pesticides through soil. Bees from a naturally occurring population were allowed to nest in loam blocks containing varying concentrations of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid. Measured residues of imidacloprid in brood provisions and in bee bodies remained at < 0.01% of the concentration in surrounding soil, suggesting limited migration of contaminants from soil to brood. Furthermore, imidacloprid contamination had no marked effect on the number, survival, body size or rate of parasitism of offspring at the tested concentrations (≤ 10 mg/kg). This species native to Eurasia and North Africa may be a suitable model for further research on the ecotoxicology of ground-nesting solitary bee species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13592-024-01145-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143362035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why bumblebees have become model species in apidology: A brief history and perspectives","authors":"Mathieu Lihoreau, Coline Monchanin, Mathilde Lacombrade, Joanna Brebner, Tamara Gómez-Moracho","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01138-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01138-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In recent years, bumblebees have increasingly been used to study various aspects of bee biology, ecology and evolution. They are now broadly accepted as tractable model species, complementary to the domestic honey bees, for fundamental and applied apidology. Here, we provide a brief history of how bumblebee research developed since their domestication and commercialisation for crop pollination in the 1990s. Bumblebees are large social bees that can be kept and trained in the lab year-round. They are easy to manipulate and track individually in their small colonies. These practical advantages have offered new possibilities for experimental bee research, leading to major breakthroughs in different fields such as cognition, navigation, nutrition, host-parasite interactions, and insect declines. Many of these findings have later been confirmed in honey bees and other pollinators. We discuss some exciting directions for future apidology research based on bumblebees.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13592-024-01138-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143108057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-31DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01136-x
Ramon Lima Ramos, Favízia Freitas de Oliveira, Tiago Maurício Francoy, Bruno Vilela, Alessandra Selbach Schnadelbach
{"title":"Unraveling the species complex of the fire bee Oxytrigona tataira (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): an integrative approach","authors":"Ramon Lima Ramos, Favízia Freitas de Oliveira, Tiago Maurício Francoy, Bruno Vilela, Alessandra Selbach Schnadelbach","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01136-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01136-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><i>Oxytrigona tataira</i> Smith (Trans Ent Soc Lond 11:497–512, 1863) was considered by different taxonomists to be a species with complex taxonomy, a dubious status and in need of taxonomic reevaluation. Furthermore, it has <i>Oxytrigona cagafogo</i> Müller (Nature 10:31–32, 1874) as its junior synonym, although there is no evidence to support such a decision. In this study, we used an integrative approach combining morphological data, geometric morphometric analysis of wings, and ecological niche overlap analysis to elucidate the true identity of <i>O</i>. <i>tataira</i>. For the morphological study, 923 specimens and the lectotype of <i>Trigona tataira</i> (= <i>O</i>. <i>tataira</i>) were examined, 470 wings were used for geometric morphometry, and 106 unique occurrence records were used for niche overlap analysis. In the morphological study, three species/morphospecies were identified: morphospecies 1 (morphologically corresponding to <i>O</i>. <i>tataira</i>), morphospecies 2 (morphologically corresponding to <i>O</i>. <i>cagafogo</i>), and morphospecies 3 (a new species for the genus). The geometric morphometry of the wings corroborated the results of the morphological study. The ecological niche overlap analysis, despite indicating a small niche overlap between <i>O</i>. <i>tataira</i> and <i>O</i>. <i>cagafogo</i>, also corroborated the results of the morphological and morphometric studies. Thus, our results confirmed the hypothesis that <i>O</i>. <i>tataira</i> and <i>O</i>. <i>cagafogo</i> are distinct taxonomic entities; therefore, we propose the revalidation of the taxonomic status of <i>O</i>. <i>cagafogo</i> Müller (Nature 10:31–32, 1874) status nov. Furthermore, it was still possible to identify and delimit a new species for <i>Oxytrigona</i>, which has already been described and will soon be formally published.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143110094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1007/s13592-025-01146-3
Mariana P. Mazzei, Leonardo Galetto, José L. Vesprini
{"title":"The role of native and exotic bees in Cucurbita maxima var. zapallito pollination: the effects of pollination intensity and visits on commercial fruits","authors":"Mariana P. Mazzei, Leonardo Galetto, José L. Vesprini","doi":"10.1007/s13592-025-01146-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-025-01146-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We conducted experimental pollinations, controlled visits, and observed pollinators’ behaviour to identify activity supporting <i>Cucurbita maxima</i> var. <i>zapallito</i> fruit production. We predict that (a) stigmas artificially pollinated with pinned native bees (<i>Eucera fervens</i>) will have more pollen grains and will produce heavier commercial fruits than those pollinated with exotic bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>); (b) the differences in fruit weight between the native and exotic bees are expected to increase with the intensity of artificial pollination; (c) controlling <i>E. fervens</i> visits in natural pollination will show fruit trends similar to artificial pollination. Unlike <i>A. mellifera</i>, <i>E. fervens</i> reached flowers by contacting stigmas or the anthers with their abdomen, depositing more pollen grains (> 80) than <i>A. mellifera</i>. Artificial pollination treatments with the two pinned-bee types resulted in fruits of similar weights regardless of pollination intensity. Conversely, in natural pollination, weight differences were observed when the number of visits increased. <i>E. fervens</i> provided at least 132 pollen grains with > 3 visits: the threshold necessary for producing commercial fruits. The visitation frequency registered exceeded this minimum reaching one visit every 10 min. Other factors, such as pollination date and plant, influenced fruit production. Few visits are enough for obtaining commercial fruits: being an immature fruit, squash does not require seed development, besides species with separate flowers developed strategies to achieve rapid pollen saturation. Squash crops rely on the ecological pollination service provided by bees underscoring the conservation value of native bee species.</p>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143110128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-28DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01144-x
Etienne Minaud, François Rebaudo, Fabrice Requier
{"title":"Long-lived winter honey bees show unexpectedly high levels of flight activity compared to short-lived summer bees","authors":"Etienne Minaud, François Rebaudo, Fabrice Requier","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01144-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01144-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In temperate regions, the overwintering success of honey bee colonies, <i>Apis mellifera</i>, depends on the last generations of long-lived bees emerging in autumn, known as winter bees. While the physiological qualities of winter bees and their extended lifespan are well documented, yet literature on their flight activity performance is scarce. Here we studied the flight activity of long-lived winter honey bees and compared their performance with short-lived bees. Using radio frequency identification (RFID), we automatically monitored the number of flights, the total flight duration and the lifespan of 523 honey bees that emerged over the course of a year, including short-lived bees from spring, summer and autumn, and long-lived winter bees. We found that flight activity performance of short-lived bees decreased progressively from spring to autumn for both the number of flights and the total flight duration. Furthermore, we confirm that only a fraction of the bees emerging before winter are long-lived winter bees, with a lifespan of 143.5 ± 23.5 days (mean ± SD). With an average of 37.5 ± 44.2 flights and 12.7 ± 15.5 h of flight, we found that long-lived winter bees were substantially more active than summer and autumn short-lived bees, but performed similar activity than spring short-lived bees. We also found that a small proportion of long-lived winter bees participate in the vast majority of the flight activity of the colony. Our results suggest that the extended lifespan of long-lived winter bees does not affect their flight activity performance, probably explained by their physiological qualities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13592-024-01144-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143109372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-23DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01137-w
Vesela Mitkovska, Tsenka Chassovnikarova, Penka Vasileva, Ivan Stoyanov, Plamen Petrov, Nikolay Petkov, Evgeniya N. Ivanova
{"title":"Sperm comet assay as a novel tool in assessing genotoxicity in high-mortality honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations","authors":"Vesela Mitkovska, Tsenka Chassovnikarova, Penka Vasileva, Ivan Stoyanov, Plamen Petrov, Nikolay Petkov, Evgeniya N. Ivanova","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01137-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01137-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The recent increase in mortality rates amongst honey bee colonies is a cause for concern. Assessing DNA damage in reproductive cells is crucial for species survival. This study aims to evaluate the potential of the sperm comet assay as a tool for in situ assessment of the genotoxic impact on honey bee populations with established high mortality rates. Previous studies have identified the presence of pesticide residues in bees and food stocks within the hives, indicating the existence of genotoxic agents in the localities under investigation. The values of comet assay parameters, namely Tail Intensity (TI%) and Olive Tail Moment (OTM, µm), scored in the sperm cells, increased following the mortality trend of the honey bee populations under study, providing evidence of significant DNA damage occurring during spermatogenesis. The alkaline comet assay in hemolymph confirmed the genotoxic effects observed in the sperm comet assay. The current study demonstrated for the first time that the sperm comet assay could serve as a reliable novel method for assessing genotoxicity in <i>A. mellifera</i>.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143109203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-23DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01141-0
R. A. Knapp, M. R. Lovegrove, V. C. Norman, E. J. Duncan
{"title":"Dietary dopamine supplementation has no effect on ovary activity in queen-less or queen-right honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers","authors":"R. A. Knapp, M. R. Lovegrove, V. C. Norman, E. J. Duncan","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01141-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01141-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Eusociality in honeybees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) is characterised by a reproductive division of labour, where the queen monopolises reproduction while worker reproduction is constrained. This constraint is mediated by queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), which inhibits worker ovary development through Notch signalling and possibly oocyte apoptosis. Dopamine has been implicated in regulating reproduction in worker honeybees, with prior studies suggesting that dietary dopamine enhances ovary activity in queen-less workers. This study aimed to test whether dopamine supplementation could overcome QMP-mediated reproductive constraint in worker honeybees. Using caged honeybee experiments, we administered dopamine and its precursor L-dopa at a range of concentrations, both in the presence and absence of QMP. Results showed that neither dopamine nor L-dopa supplementation affected ovary development, survival rates, or food intake, which contrasts with a previous study. These findings suggest that dopamine may not be a major factor in QMP-mediated reproductive inhibition. Instead, we suggest that the multifaceted nature of QMP’s components together with the complexity of neuroendocrine signalling makes it likely that multiple redundant mechanisms regulate worker reproduction. Future research should investigate the interplay between nutrition, dopamine and QMP components to fully understand the regulation of ovary activation in honeybee workers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13592-024-01141-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143109204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-23DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01143-y
Michelle A. Taylor, R. Mark Goodwin, Heather M. McBrydie, Harlan M. Cox, Bernard C. Dominiak
{"title":"Relative effectiveness of methods that sample worker honey bees to estimate Varroa destructor populations in Apis mellifera colonies","authors":"Michelle A. Taylor, R. Mark Goodwin, Heather M. McBrydie, Harlan M. Cox, Bernard C. Dominiak","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01143-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01143-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Honey bee (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) colonies usually survive less than 16 months if populations of parasitic mite (<i>Varroa destructor</i>) are not controlled. The timing of when to control Varroa populations is aided by using methods that estimate the number of Varroa in hives. The relative efficacy of eight methods used to calculate the number of Varroa in samples of 300 adult bees was established: icing sugar shake (78%), low-suds detergent wash (86%), ethanol wash (72%), 10-min exposure to Apistan<sup>®</sup> (42%), ether roll (42%), a 30-s exposure to grapefruit leaf smoke (5%), a 30-s exposure to fluvalinate smoke (0%), and a 30-s exposure to tobacco leaf smoke (0%). A range of approaches were investigated to improve the efficacy and reliability of some of the methods. The following approaches improved the efficacy of four methods so that more than 95% of the Varroa were recovered: two 15-s shakes with at least 10 g of icing sugar; three 15-s washes with low-suds detergent; three 30-s washes with ethanol; and a 35-min exposure to an Apistan<sup>®</sup> strip.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13592-024-01143-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143109202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ApidologiePub Date : 2025-01-22DOI: 10.1007/s13592-024-01130-3
Clément Tourbez, William Fiordaliso, Avi Bar-Massada, Amit Dolev, Denis Michez, Achik Dorchin
{"title":"Commercial honey bee keeping compromises wild bee conservation in Mediterranean nature reserves","authors":"Clément Tourbez, William Fiordaliso, Avi Bar-Massada, Amit Dolev, Denis Michez, Achik Dorchin","doi":"10.1007/s13592-024-01130-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13592-024-01130-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Global commercial honey bee keeping for crop pollination and honey production is increasingly identified as a threat to wild bee populations. Intensive honey bee keeping is particularly alarming in Mediterranean regions that are considered global diversity hotspots for bees. Yet, the effects on the bee communities and their variation as a function of the distance to apiaries (i.e. collection of bee hives) remain poorly explored. To fill this gap, we investigated 56 sites adjacent and far (> 1 km) from apiaries in three large nature reserves in Northern Israel. We explored the effects of proximity to apiaries on wild bee taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and compared bee community composition between sites far and near to apiaries. Our records of 295 bee species include regionally restricted and undescribed species and contribute to the knowledge of Israel’s bee fauna. We found that proximity to apiaries reduced both the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of wild bees, and that this impact depended on individual abundance. We show that across nature reserves, 41.7 to 56.5% of the bee species diversity is concentrated in sites far from apiaries, with fewer species shared between near and far sites. Our results suggest that honey bee keeping is correlated with lower species richness in wild Mediterranean bee communities, potentially disrupting pollination processes and ultimately compromising ecosystem stability. We caution against intensive bee keeping in or near nature reserves for the conservation and safeguarding of diverse Mediterranean wild bee communities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142995622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}