Beekeepers suspected maize, Zea mays L., treated with imidacloprid to result in substantial loss of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies in Belgium. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential impact of maize grown from imidacloprid-treated seeds on honey bee mortality. A survey of 16 apiaries was carried out, and all maize fields treated or not with imidacloprid were located within a radius of 3,000 m around the observed apiaries. Samples of honey, beeswax, and bees were collected in three colonies per apiary and analyzed for pesticide contain by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We first found a significant correlation between the number of colonies per apiary and the mortality rates in an apiary. In addition, this mortality rate was inversely correlated with the surface of maize fields treated and not with imidacloprid, suggesting that this pesticide do not interact with bees' fitness. Moreover, a very large number of our samples contained acaricides either prohibited or ineffective against Varroa destructor (Anderson & Trueman) (Acari: Varroidae), suggesting that the treatment methods used by the beekeepers to be inadequate for mite control. Our results support the hypothesis that imidacloprid seed-treated maize has no negative impact on honey bees.

Competition between di¡erent males' sperm for the fertilization of ova has led to the evolution of a diversity of characters in male reproductive behaviour, physiology and morphology. Males may increase sperm competition success either by enhancing the success of their own sperm or by negating or eliminating the success of rival sperm. Here, we ¢nd that in the £our beetle Tribolium castaneum, the second male to mate gains fertilization precedence over previous males' sperm and fertilizes approximately two-thirds of the eggs. It is not known what mechanism underlies this pattern of last-male sperm precedence; however, the elongate tubules of the female sperm storage organ may encourage a`last-in, ¢rst-out' sperm use sequence. Here we present an additional or alternative mechanism of sperm precedence whereby previously deposited sperm are removed from the female tract by the mating male's genitalia. In addition to providing evidence for sperm removal in T. castaneum, we also show that removed, non-self sperm may be translocated back into the reproductive tracts of new, previously unmated females, where the translocated sperm go on to gain signi¢cant fertilization success. We found that, in 45 out of 204 crosses, sperm translocation occurred and in these 45 crosses over half of the o¡spring were sired by spermatozoa which had been translocated between females on the male genitalia. In the natural environment of stored food, reproductively active T. castaneum adults aggregate in dense mating populations where copulation is frequent (we show in three naturally occurring population densities that copula duration and intermating intervals across three subsequent matings average 1^2 min). Selection upon males to remove rival sperm may have resulted in counter-selection upon spermatozoa to survive removal and be translocated into new females where they go on to fertilize in signi¢cant numbers.

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