On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 10:27 PM, Andrew Wootton
> So don't want to dampen the enthusiasm, but not sure that refractometry
is going to be all that informative in bee diseases. Happy to hear of other
views.

Hi Andrew, no idea what to look for or even the thresholds in bee
hemolymph, How ever there is quite interesting things showing up in my
brief google search:

crustacean
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1937240x-
00002189
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmb/2011/153654/

Measuring serum-protein concentration by using a refractometer can provide
a non-destructive field method to assess crustacean populations/species
protein-related modifications of physiological state without need of costly
laboratory facilities and procedures.

2. Measurement of glucose and trehalose in honey bee haemolymph

http://www.coloss.org/beebook/I/physiology/2 (bold mine)

This protocol describes a sensitive enzymatic method for quantifying
glucose and trehalose in honey bee haemolymph. Haemolymph sugar levels do
not only need to be regulated, they also provide important information on
the physiological state of carbohydrate metabolism, which is associated
with gustatory sucrose responsiveness (Amdam et al., 2006; Wang et al.,
2012). In general, the glucose titre in honey bee haemolymph is below 20
µg/µl and the trehalose titer is below 30 µg/µl (Wang et al., 2012).

The method allows measuring of glucose concentrations from 0.5 to 100
µg/µl, and trehalose from 0.4 to 94 µg/µl. Such sensitivity makes the
method appropriate for estimation of glucose and trehalose in most insect
body fluids, without prior concentration or extraction. Furthermore, these
methods are specific, reproducible, sensitive, high throughput and do not
require extensive sample preparation.
*Measuring other carbohydrates of the honey bee colony, such as sugar
concentration in honey or the crop of foragers, does not require such a
sensitive method and can be easily done by means of a refractometer. *
PDF download
Haemolymph sugar homeostasis and the control of the proventriculus in the
honeybee (Apis mellifera carnica L.)
<https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/55/blatt.pdf>
https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/55/blatt.pdf
<https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#>

   1.
   <https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ehOGwiMjSWMJ:https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/55/blatt.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk>
   2.
   <https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1517&bih=692&q=related:https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/55/blatt.pdf+hemolymph+refractometer+bees&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXmpPmlqTPAhWEnJAKHdzVBxUQHwgmMAE>

by J Blatt - ‎Cited by 2
<https://scholar.google.com/scholar?ion=1&espv=2&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.133700528,d.Y2I&biw=1517&bih=692&um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&cites=7598687259364660559>
-
‎Related articles
<https://scholar.google.com/scholar?ion=1&espv=2&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.133700528,d.Y2I&biw=1517&bih=692&um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&q=related:T5W3hc31c2lHjM:scholar.google.com/>
Haemolymph sugar titers of honeybees feeding on natural food sources and
..... bees were forced to regurgitate the crop contents onto a hand
refractometer by.

*How to collect Hemolymph (from ants but guess is the same with honeybees)*
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_we_extract_the_hemolymph_from_insects_especially_from_small_ones_like_ants15

Lipophorin of the larval honeybee, Apis me//ifera L. dead end for
refractometer ...
http://www.jlr.org/content/26/2/241.full.pdf

but ... "We generated two monoclonal antibodies that reacted with the
insect protein “lipophorin” and were capable of discriminating individuals
of the two species at all life-stages."
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/0022-0493-93.3.878?mobileUi=0&prevSearch=&journalCode=ecen
Rapid Antibody-Based Field Test To Distinguish Between *Helicoverpa
armigera* (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and *Helicoverpa punctigera*(Lepidoptera:
Noctuidae)

do not know, just saying ...

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