Experimental evaluation of the reproductive quality of Africanized queen bees (Apis mellifera) on the basis of body weight at emergence

Souza, Daiana Almeida de; Bezzera-Laure, M.A.F.; Francoy, Tiago Maurício; Gonçalves, Lionel Segui

doi:10.4238/2013.november.7.13

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…However, with Africanized honeybee queens, Souza et al (2013) found values of 180 to 200 mg, while Tarpy et al (2011; reported values of 206.6 and 218.7 mg for European honeybee queens. Even with lower weight of European honeybee queens, they showed a more hygienic behavior, once their infestation index by Varroa destructor is lower compared with the European queen (Guerra Júnior et al, 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Gilley et al (2003) and Kahya et al (2008) verified an association between reproductive quality of the queen with weight at emergence and Akyol et al (2008) concluded that heavier queens had higher mating rates and started laying eggs earlier than lighter queens. As a result, queen weight is studied as a selection criterion in honeybee breeding programs (Souza et al, 2013) due to high heritability. Rangel et al (2013) observed that a honeybee colony can be evaluated as the extended phenotype of its queen, and thus the selection working mostly at the colony level may be equivalent at the individual level.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Metorima

Costa-Maia

Halak

et al. 2015

Acta Sci. Anim. Sci.

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ABSTRACT. This study aimed to estimate live weight, the length and the width of wing and abdomen and the length, the width and the height of thorax in newly emerged Africanized honeybee queens up to 192 hours and their influence on final quality regarding appropriate storage techniques in queen banking or incubator and to verify the possibility of using these parameters as selection criteria in honeybee breeding programs. Queen honeybees were produced in summer, autumn and winter. The queen production method used throughout the experiments was adapted from Doolittle, and 68 the queens were weighed at emergence. Data were analyzed in R software by regression analysis of queen weight at emergence according to life time after emergence, in two types of storage. The weight of queens emerged in queen banking and incubator was significantly different (p < 0.05), with mean values of 165.61 and 157.04 mg, respectively. Queens kept in an incubator and in queen banking showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in wing length, abdomen length and thorax height. The weight of queen at emergence can be used as a selection criterion in honeybee breeding programs.Keywords: queen size, emergence, honeybee breeding, queen production.Medidas morfométricas de rainhas africanizadas mantidas em estufa ou colmeia banco de rainhas RESUMO. O objetivo do trabalho foi estimar peso vivo, comprimento e largura de asa e abdome e comprimento, largura e altura do tórax de rainhas Apis mellifera africanizadas recém-emergidas até 192h e sua influência na qualidade final com relação às técnicas apropriadas de armazenamento em banco de rainhas ou estufa e verificar se estes parâmetros podem ser utilizados como critério de seleção. Foram produzidas nas seguintes estações do ano: verão, outono e inverno. O método utilizado durante todo o experimento foi o adaptado de Doolitlle para a produção de rainhas e 68 rainhas foram pesadas à emersão. Os dados foram analisados no software R pela análise de regressão do peso da rainha à emergência em função do tempo de vida após a emersão, nos dois tipos de alojamento. Para peso, os efeitos da colmeia banco de rainhas e estufa foram significativos (p < 0,05), médias de 165,61 e 157,04 mg, respectivamente. As rainhas mantidas em estufa e colmeia banco de rainhas não apresentaram diferenças em relação ao comprimento da asa, ao comprimento do abdome e à altura do tórax. O peso de rainhas à emergência mantidas em colmeia banco de rainhas foi maior que o peso das rainhas mantidas em estufa. O peso das rainhas à emergência pode ser utilizado como critério de seleção.Palavras-chave: tamanho de rainhas, emersão, melhoramento de abelhas, produção de rainhas.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Metorima

Costa-Maia

Halak

et al. 2015

Acta Sci. Anim. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The search to improve honey bee queen reproductive quality is one of the main goals of apicultural research. Here, we took advantage of the high developmental plasticity in the queen ontogenic development Rangel et al 2013;De Souza et al 2013) attributed to the already well-known physiological pathways involved on this process (Barchuk et al 2007;Hartfelder et al 2015) to investigate whether manipulating the amount of sugars and/or JH in food during honey bee queen larval development would increase queen reproductive potential. First, we wanted to test if these manipulations can further improve the quality of queens reared from optimal (young) female larvae that exceed the reproductive capacity of queens reared by usual grafting methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The quality of newly emerged queens is usually quantified by various external morphological features including thoracic width, wing length, and wet weight (Woyke 1971;Dedej et al 1998;Hatch et al 1999;Tarpy et al 2000Tarpy et al , 2011Delaney et al 2011;De Souza et al 2013). Such morphological measures are convenient proxies for overall body size, which is highly associated with mating success Tarpy et al 2011) and queen attractiveness to drones at mating flights (Nelson and Gary 1983;Gilley et al 2003;Rangel et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some field studies have found that high-quality queens produced from newly hatched larvae and weighing more than 200 mg at adult emergence headed significantly larger colonies than lowquality queens produced from old larvae and weighing less than 180 mg at emergence. Queens weighing over 200 mg headed colonies with higher brood populations, more stored pollen, and population growth (De Souza et al 2013;Rangel et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental improvement of honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen quality through nutritional and hormonal supplementation

Souza¹,

Huang²

2018

Apidologie

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Queen reproductive potential (=quality) impacts the health and productivity of honey bee colonies. To determine the factors that affect reproductive quality during development, we tested queens produced under larval treatments by supplementing the diet with juvenile hormone (JH), additional sugars, or both, compared to untreated control. Furthermore, we varied the age of the larvae that were grafted (1 and 3 days old). We analyzed newly emerged virgin queens for their morphological characters as proxies for their reproductive potential. We found that the application of a sugar-enriched diet in combination with JH application onto 1st instar queen larvae produced higher-quality queens, while for 3rd instar larvae only the JH treatment resulted in increasing queen quality. For mated queens, those treated with JH plus supplemented sugars showed a significantly higher sperm count and sperm viability. Our findings demonstrate that honey bee queen reproductive potential can be increased through diet supplementation.honeybee queens / queen quality / geometric morphometry / queen larval diet / juvenile hormone

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Imidacloprid Induces Histopathological Damage in the Midgut, Ovary, and Spermathecal Stored Spermatozoa of Queens After Chronic Colony Exposure

Moreira

Souza

Galhardo

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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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

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Experimental evaluation of the reproductive quality of Africanized queen bees (Apis mellifera) on the basis of body weight at emergence

Cited by 25 publications

References 27 publications

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

<b>Morphometric measurements of Africanized honeybee queens kept in an incubator or in queen banking

Experimental improvement of honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen quality through nutritional and hormonal supplementation

Imidacloprid Induces Histopathological Damage in the Midgut, Ovary, and Spermathecal Stored Spermatozoa of Queens After Chronic Colony Exposure

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