What do we know of the presence of this Apicystis bombi on other parts
of the world and its relation to Apis m. health?
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-2229.2011.00261.x/abstract
Summary
The neogregarine Apicystis bombi is considered a low prevalence
parasite of Bombus spp. Before our work it has only once been detected
in one single specimen of the Western honeybee Apis mellifera. This
contribution reports the presence of A. bombi parasitizing both A.
mellifera and Bombus terrestris at a site in Northwestern Argentine
Patagonia (Bariloche, close to the border with Chile) and analyses its
possible absence in the Pampas region, the most important beekeeping
region of the country. In Bariloche, prevalence of A. bombi in A.
mellifera was 7.6% in 2009, and 13.6% in 2010, whereas in B.
terrestris it was 12.1%. Infections were not detected in 302 bee hives
periodically prospected along 3 years (almost 400 000 honeybee
specimens) in the Pampas. Analysis with the probability program
FreeCalc2 suggested a possible absence of A. bombi in this area.
Because of high virulence showed in several species of Bombus in the
Northern hemisphere, A. bombi should be closely monitored in A.
mellifera and in native Bombus species or other Apidae.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022201109001724
Invasive Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) parasitized by a
flagellate (Euglenozoa: Kinetoplastea) and a neogregarine
(Apicomplexa: Neogregarinorida)
Abstract
The flagellate Crithidia bombi and the neogregarineApicystis bombihave
been found in individuals of
Bombus terrestris , a Palaearctic species of bumble bee commercially
reared and shipped worldwide for
pollination services.B. terrestris has recently entered into the
northwestern Patagonia region of Argentina
from Chile, where it was introduced in 1998. Prevalence was 21.6% for
C. bombi and 3.6% for A. bombi
(n = 111). The pathogens were not detected in 441 bumble bees
belonging to five of the eight known
Argentine native species ( Bombus atratus, Bombus morio, Bombus
bellicosus, Bombus opifex, Bombus tucum-
anus) collected elsewhere in the country. Although the absence of
natural occurrence of C. bombi and
A. bombi in Argentine native bumble bees cannot be ascertained at
present due to the limited surveys per-
formed, it is important to report their detection in invasive B.
terrestris. The invasion event is relatively
recent and the accompanying pathogens are not species specific within
the genus Bombus.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-012-0311-0
Alien parasite hitchhikes to Patagonia on invasive bumblebee
Abstract
The worldwide trade in bumblebees can lead to the spread of diseases,
which in turn has been claimed as a factor in bumblebee decline.
Populations of the introduced Bombus terrestris, which invaded NW
Patagonia, Argentina, in 2006, harbor the highly pathogenic protozoan
Apicystis bombi. We asked whether A. bombi had been co-introduced with
B. terrestris, and if so, whether spillover occurred to the two
resident bumblebee species in the region: the introduced European
Bombus ruderatus and the native Bombus dahlbomii. We searched for A.
bombi by means of PCR in samples of B. ruderatus and B. dahlbomii
collected before and after the invasion of B. terrestris and in
samples of the latter. We found no A. bombi in samples of B. ruderatus
and B. dahlbomiicollected before B. terrestris invasion, whereas post
invasion, A. bombi was present in all 3 species. The identity of the
parasite was established by sequencing the 18S region, which was
identical for the three bumblebee species and also matched the
European sequence, confirming it to be A. bombi. This is the first
report of A. bombi in B. ruderatus and B. dahlbomii. Moreover, our
results suggest that Patagonia had been free of A. bombi until this
parasite was co-introduced with B. terrestris, and spilled over in
situ to these two previously resident species. Finally, our findings
provide indirect circumstantial evidence of a potential link between
the population collapse and geographic retraction of B. dahlbomii and
the introduction of this novel parasite.
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