Atypical viral and parasitic pattern in Algerian honey bee subspecies Apis mellifera intermissa and A. m. sahariensis

Abstract

-Unusually high losses of honey bee colonies are reported in many regions of the world, but little data is available concerning the status of honey bee stocks in Africa. However, the situation on this continent, where beekeeping is weakly developed and where the wild population of the pollinator remains large, can give us an insight on the causes of increased mortalities elsewhere. In this study, we evaluate the health status of Apis mellifera intermissa and A. m. sahariensis populations inhabiting the north and the south of Algeria, respectively. We report few colony losses associated with an atypical pattern of prevalence for common honey bee parasites and pathogens. The presence or absence of these risk factors is discussed in relation to the occurrence of local and global colony losses to contribute to our understanding of how honey bee pathogens and parasite impact this pollinator's health.Apis mellifera intermissa / Apis mellifera sahariensis / virus / Nosema spp. / Varroa destructor / colony losses / Algeria

Varroa destructor(Mesostigmata: Varroidae) Parasitism and Climate Differentially Influence the Prevalence, Levels, and Overt Infections of Deformed Wing Virus in Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

“…2010, Strauss et al. 2013 , Adjlane et al. 2015 ), again suggesting a possible effect of climate and type of bee, or the interaction of these with other factors.…”

New Viruses from the Ectoparasite Mite Varroa destructor Infesting Apis mellifera and Apis cerana

“…V. destructor from A. m. intermissa showed lower DWV levels compared to its parasitized host (26.83% and 97.90%, respectively). Interestingly, it was reported that A. m. intermissa was more resistant to V. destructor parasitization than other A. mellifera subspecies [53,54]. Again, the results are subjected to the above-mentioned limitations of the analysis including the n = 1 repetitions of the transcriptomic data per subspecies.…”

Mitochondrial genome of the North African Sahara Honeybee, Apis mellifera sahariensis (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

“…Apis mellifera sahariensis is a subspecies of honeybee (Apis mellifera) belonging to the African lineage and is found in the oases of the Sahara to the south of the Atlas Mountains, Aïn-Sefra, Bechar, Algeria (32 45 0 22.8 00 N, 0 34 0 40.092 00 W) (Baldensperger 1924). It has the ability to adapt to extreme conditions like temperatures in Saharan zones ranging from À10 C to over 50 C to drought conditions (Adjlane et al 2016) and high altitudes (Haccour 1960). In the present study, we report the first complete mitochondrial genome of Apis mellifera sahariensis, which will enhance our knowledge on Apis mitogenomes and phylogeny, the previous studies of Apis mellifera intermissa (Peng et al 2014) and Apis mellifera syriaca (Haddad 2015) from the Middle East North Africa Region, will help further understanding the genetic relation between these bees.…”

“…It has the ability to adapt to extreme conditions like temperatures in Saharan zones ranging from −10 °C to over 50 °C to drought conditions (Adjlane et al. 2016 ) and high altitudes (Haccour 1960 ). In the present study, we report the first complete mitochondrial genome of Apis mellifera sahariensis , which will enhance our knowledge on Apis mitogenomes and phylogeny, the previous studies of Apis mellifera intermissa (Peng et al.…”