Assessing hygienic behavior of Apis mellifera unicolor (Hymenoptera: Apidae), the endemic honey bee from Madagascar

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Hygienic behavior (HB) is one of the natural mechanisms of honey bee for limiting the spread of brood diseases and Varroa destructor parasitic mite. Objective of our study was to measure HB of Apis mellifera unicolor colonies (N = 403) from three geographic regions (one infested and two free of V. destructor) in Madagascar. The pin-killing method was used for evaluation of the HB. Responses were measured from 3 h 30 min to 7 h after perforation of the cells. Colonies were very effective in detecting perforated cells. In the first 4 h, on average, they detected at least 50% of the pin-killed brood. Six hours after cell perforation, colonies tested (N = 91) showed a wide range of uncapped (0 to 100%) and cleaned cells (0 to 82%). Global distribution of the rate of cleaned cells at 6 h was multimodal and hygienic responses could be split in three classes. Colonies from the three regions showed a significant difference in HB responses. Three hypotheses (geographic, genetic traits, presence of V. destructor) are further discussed to explain variability of HB responses among the regions. Levels of HB efficiency of A. mellifera unicolor colonies are among the greatest levels reported for A. mellifera subspecies. Presence of highly hygienic colonies is a great opportunity for future breeding program in selection for HB.

Go East for Better Honey Bee Health: Apis cerana Is Faster at Hygienic Behavior than A. mellifera

“…mellifera population studied of 38.9 ± 12.2% and 59.2 ± 28.2% in spring and in autumn, respectively, corresponded to that reported for colonies of intermediate hygienic abilities (5 to 65%) [36]. Hygienic behavior in honey bee colonies can be highly variable among and within populations and subspecies, due to differences in habitat, genetic lineage and geography [23,33,38,42]. Repeating our experiment in other regions where both species co-occur is thus necessary to generalize the results.…”

“…mellifera . Colonies of both species kept at the same location in Southeast China were tested simultaneously in spring and in autumn to take potential environmental and seasonal variations of hygienic behavior into account [37–38]. The results of these experiments yielded a comparative overview of the differences in freeze-killed brood removal ability between Western and Eastern honey bee colonies.…”

Hygienic behavior in Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Apidae, Meliponini)

“…When quickly performed, this process may prevent the spread of the disease causal agents to healthy brood (Rothenbuhler 1964). HB is a significant general resistance mechanism to a number of pathogens, including Ascosphaera apis (causal agent of chalk brood) (Gilliam et al 1988), Paenibacillus larvae (causal agent of American foulbrood) (Spivak and Reuter 2001) and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor (Rinderer et al 2010;Rasolofoarivao et al 2015).…”

“…Most studies on HB are carried out with A. mellifera (Gramacho and Gonçalves 2009;Pérez-Sato et al 2009;Wilson-Rich et al 2009;Morais et al 2010;Stevanovic et al 2011;Pinto et al 2012;Bigio et al 2013;Nicodemo et al 2013;Pereira et al 2013;Rasolofoarivao et al 2015). Few species of stingless bees have been investigated in terms of HB, namely Melipona beecheii , Scaptotrigona pectoralis ) and Plebeia remota (Nunes-Silva et al 2009).…”

Genetic diversity of Varroa destructor parasitizing Apis mellifera unicolor in Madagascar

“…destructor was first reported in Madagascar in 2010 (OIE-Feb-2010;Rasolofoarivao et al 2013) and has been observed parasitizing Apis mellifera unicolor (Latreille 1804) the endemic honey bee (Ruttner 1988), of the African lineage (Franck et al 2001;Rasolofarivao et al 2015b). The impact of the parasite on A. m. unicolor was severe (Rasolofoarivao et al 2013(Rasolofoarivao et al , 2015a, despite its African genetic background. Indeed, it was reported that populations of A lineages, and notably Apis mellifera scutellata , were able to better tolerate V. destructor infestation (Strauss et al 2015(Strauss et al , 2016Mortensen et al 2016).…”