The Southern region of Brazil is known for its floral diversity, presenting great potential for bee products such as honey, pollen, propolis and royal jelly. In this study, 67 honey samples provided by beekeepers from 14 municipalities of western Paraná were evaluated. Physicochemical parameters, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity were analyzed. The physicochemical parameters of the samples were in compliance with the specifications by national and international standards, presenting average values of 3.26, 34.54 meq.kg-1 , 18.75%, 10.79 mg.kg-1 , 0.14% and 340.10 µS.cm-1 , for pH, acidity, moisture, hydroxymethylfurfural, ash content and electrical conductivity, respectively. The nutritive values of honey, on average, achieved 0.28% of protein from 69.09% of total sugars, 64.57% of reducing sugars and 4.28% of sucrose. Bioactive compounds showed average values of 34.83 mg GAE/100 g-1 of total phenols and 16.26 mg EQ/100 g-1 of flavonoids, enabling antioxidant activity of 2.68 µmol FE (II)/g-1 of FRAP, 1.01 µmol ET/g-1 from ABTS and 0.12 µmol ET/g-1 of DPPH. This first study evaluated the parameters through cluster analysis and observed nine groups formed, as well as the characteristics between the samples with similar reaction. We concluded that the honey samples have high similarity and confirmed the quality of the honey produced.

A melissopalinologia foi utilizada para determinar a origem botânica do mel, importante para sua rastreabilidade. Quarenta amostras de mel dos municípios de Santa Helena (20) e Terra Roxa (20), região oeste do Paraná, foram analisadas de acordo com os tipos de pólen e comparações com os catálogos de pólen e literatura especializada. Em relação à qualidade analítica, foram identificados 300 grãos de pólen por amostra. Nas amostras de Santa Helena, foram encontrados 71 tipos de pólen de 24 famílias, classificados como mel monofloral de Hovenia dulcis (8) e o restante como multifloral (12). Nas amostras da Terra Roxa, 64 tipos de pólen pertencentes a 29 famílias foram classificadas como Glycine max L. Merrill (7), Mimosa scabrella Benth (2),Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth (1), Mimosa verrucosa Benth (1), Mikania sp. (1) e Senecio sp. (1) e como multifloral (7). Os dois locais têm um alto índice de similaridade, no entanto, a predominância de alguns tipos de pólen indica a especificidade botânica da localidade. Para Santa Helena, maior significância foi observada para o pólen de H. dulcis , Eucalyptus sp. , Parapiptadenia rigida , e leucena ; em Terra Roxa, os tipos de pólen G. max , M. scabrella e Eucalyptussp. teve mais incidentes. Apesar do índice de similaridade, os indicadores mostram diferenças entre as áreas produtoras. As amostras de mel de Santa Helena apresentaram maior diversidade de pólen em relação às amostras de Terra Roxa, refletindo a cobertura vegetativa predominante de matas ciliares e culturas agrícolas, respectivamente, em cada município.

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Bee colony health is declining as a result of several factors, including exposure to pesticides. The development and strength of honey bee colonies depend on the reproductive success of queen bees. Because flowers are sources of food for bees, foragers can accidentally collect and carry contaminated pollen and nectar to their hives; and this may compromise the longevity and the life span of individuals. Thus, the present study aimed to observe the action of imidacloprid in the midgut and ovaries of Apis mellifera queens, as well as the effects on sperm stored in their spermatheca. To this end, the apiary was divided into three experimental groups: control, commercial imidacloprid, and active ingredient imidacloprid. For toxicity assays, a sucrose solution containing 1 µg/L of imidacloprid was offered to the colonies for 42 days. A control group received only food in the same period. In both treatments with imidacloprid, the midgut of queens showed modifications in the external musculature and cellular alterations. Such changes could lead to the nonrecovery of the epithelium and subsequently malabsorption of nutrients. Moreover, the digestive cells of queen bees exposed to the commercial imidacloprid presented pyknotic nuclei, suggesting a cell death process. The main alterations observed in the ovaries of these reproductive bees treated with commercial imidacloprid were degeneration and resorption of the ovariole content, which probably affected their fertilization and colony development. There were no significant changes in the spermatozoa morphology for both treatments with imidacloprid, but this insecticide may interfere with the development and reproductive success of A. mellifera colonies because it affects the morphology and function of essential organs for the survival of queens. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1637–1648. SETAC

Stingless bees Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Meliponinae) are pollinators of native and cultivated plants, are therefore in contact with areas contaminated by pesticides. These native bees were evaluated for changes in gene expression of esterase isoenzymes and peptides after contamination by contact with insecticides growth regulators Gallaxy ® EC 100, Natuneem and Azamax after 48, 120, 168 hours, 30 and 60 days. EST-4 presented an increase in relative activity after contamination with Gallaxy ® 100 EC at 6.2 × 10-2 g a.i/mL, Natuneem at 7.5 × 10-5 g a.i/mL and Azamax at 1.2 × 10-3 g a.i/mL after 60 days, 48 h and 60 days, respectively. Inhibition of the relative activity of EST-4 was detected after contamination by the Natuneem at 1.5 × 10-5 g a.i/mLand Azamax at 1.2 × 10-3 g a.i/mL after 48 h and 30 days respectively. The insecticides growth regulators promoted changes in protein synthesis of adult workers of T. angustula resulting in an increase or decrease in the relative intensity of bands, and the appearance of new peptides compared with controls. Changes in protein synthesis have been identified mainly after long period of contamination, 120 and 168 h with the IGRs Gallaxy ® EC 100 (at 0.78 and 1.25 g a.i/mL), Azamax (at 1.2 × 10-3 and 6 × 10-3 g a.i/mL) and Natuneem (at 7.5 × 10-5 and 3 × 10-3 g a.i/mL) and 60 days with Natuneem (at 1.5 × 10-5 g a.i/mL).

Tetragonisca angustula is the stingless bee more managed by beekeepers, whose honey has many medicinal properties and is distributed throughout Latin America. They have variation in color of mesepisternum and can be black, yellow or mixed. They might be classified into two species (T. angustula and T. fiebrigi) or two subspecies (T. angustula angustula and T. angustula fiebrigi). This study aimed study was to analyze the genetic variability of populations T. angustula sampled using the technique simple repeated sequences and to analyze the interaction of molecular markers used in other studies to verify the possible existence of a marker that distinguishes genetically. A total of 60 individuals were sampled in the cities of Maringá, Cianorte and Terra Boa, Paraná state, Southern Brazil. The results showed that all loci are polymorphic. The value of FST=0.1173 shows that populations are moderately differentiated and analysis of molecular variance indicates that 76% of the change occurs within the analyzed populations. The largest value of delta K obtained by Bayesian inference estimated the actual number of people equal to three. The analysis of interaction networks has shown that there are more interactions with isozymes, but none of them allowed separate T. angustula in two species.

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