DOCSLIB.ORG

Introduction to Bees

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Introduction to Bees Introduction to Bees SOBA March 19, 2016 Today’s Topics • Brief introduction to bees • A little history about bees and beekeeping • How the honey bees’ calendar differs from your calendar • What you can expect your first year Hundreds of Bees Bumble Bee Carpenter Bee Miner Bee Mason Bee Honey Bee Leaf Cutter Bee Apis mellifera European/western honey bee Rusty Honey Bee Suite • Apis is Latin for bee • Mellifera is Greek for = honey bearing What makes a bee a bee? Ability to carry pollen When split ends are a good thing 700X Electrical Charge What makes a bee a bee? Order: Hymenoptera = membrane wings 2 pairs of wings instead of 2 single wings How it all started… • A little history about bees and beekeeping Cretaceous Corsage Orchid Pollen Packets Bee in Fossilized Amber Spanish Cave Drawings Approximately 8000 years ago Honey Bees in Ancient Egypt 3000 – 4000 years ago Beekeeping: Then and Now 3000 – 4000 years old Modern Day Egypt What goes around comes around 3000 Year Old Bee Hive Before Langstroth: SKEP BEEKEEPING Using smoke to drive bees from a skep to rob their honey Bees into the Americas German or black Honey bees were introduced into the Americas in 1622 But..Were bees here before the 1600’s? But Apis nearctica is proof that North America was a native range of the honey bee. Races of bees introduced into the United States Carniolans (late 1800s) Caucasian bees (~1822) Carniolan Cordovan Italian Italian bees (1860) African bees were introduced to Brazil in 1956 and subsequently spread rapidly Africanized Honey bee Non-Africanized Honey bee Prepared to work the bees in South America The modern bee hive resulted from the combination of Langstroth’s discovery of bee space with Dzieron’s design of the first successful moveable-frame hive 1810 - 1895 1811 - 1906 What is bee space? What happens when bee space is violated? Narrower than bee space Greater than bee space Discovery of the secrets of bees The 1st hive Original with Langstroth removable hive frames Original edition Hive and Honey Bee The Langstroth Hive today Modern Langstroth Bee Hive Outer Cover Section Super (honey comb) Inner Cover Queen Honey Excluder Supers Brood Box Frame Landing Board Entrance What is beekeeping? Beekeeping is population management of a social insect, the honey bee, Apis mellifera Beekeepers seek to maximize adult population to coincide with a nectar flow to produce honey or pollinate flowers of a crop Beekeeping is managing a colony of honey bees Honey bees’ primary value to man Your super market WITH BEES WITHOUT BEES Pollination: Primary Value Without pollination some fruits and vegetables don’t grow up DAY 1 Pollination vs non pollination Non-pollinated Pollinated Day 7 Pollinated Non-pollinated Day 11 Pollinated Non-pollinated Percentage of Decline of Crop Yield without Honeybees’ Pollination % Dependence on % Dependence Crop Crop Honeybees on Honeybees 20 100 Lemon & Lime Almond Apple 90 Lettuce 10 Apricot 70 Lupine 10 Asparagus 90 Macadamia 90 Avocado 100 Mandarin 30 Bean 10 Mango 90 Blueberry 100 Nectarine 60 Broccoli 100 Onion 100 Brussels 30 Orange 30 sprout Cabbage 30 Papaya 20 Carrot 100 Peach 60 Cauliflower 100 Peanut 10 Celery 100 Pear 50 Cherries 90 Plum and prune 70 Cotton lint 20 Pumpkin 90 Cucumber 90 Strawberry 40 Grapefruit 80 Watermelon 70 Kiwi 90 Benefits of pollination Pollination= Flower Constancy Aster Aster The who’s who of the colony. Honey Bee Castes Workers Drone Queen The Queen’s Only Role • Lay Eggs • Lay Eggs • Lay More Eggs • Lay Even More Eggs Depositing an egg in cell I laid 1,500 eggs today, and you expect me to dress for dinner? Drone aka Male Bee • Mates with Queen • Expects to be Waited On • Mostly Does Nothing Worker Bees: 60,000 Strong From Darkness to Light to Flight •Raise Babies •Care for Queen •Maintain Hive •Build Comb •Protect Hive as Guard Bee •Collect Nectar •Collect Pollen •Work Until Their Wings wear Out The calendar: we are not on the same page… How the honey bees’ calendar differs from our calendar Our Calendar looks like this…. 2016 The bees’ calendar looks like this While we are celebrating the holidays and settling in for the winter, the bees are thinking about spring January/February/March • New Year starts with population building • When we see pussy willows we know spring has started for the bees Pollen and nectar initially available Late winter: beekeeper should monitor stores and feed if necessary You don’t want to see this April & May: While we are enjoying a beautiful spring day April - May • Bees are continuing to build their population • Propagating Don’t leave the bees searching for a meal… Don’t leave them looking for a new home Ian Beyer While we are laying on a hammock in summer, the bees are starting to prepare for winter. June When the blackberries blossom the bees’ population is at maximum June: Colony at its peak strength JuneJune 1st1st Bees start hoarding resources for winter 60 - 100 lbs honey for bees Surplus for beekeeper June: The queen lays fewer eggs in preparation for winter August: the workers start reducing population by kicking out the drones August: mite to bee ratio https://beeinformed.org http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/varroa August: The bees are raising longer lived winter bees Skinny Bee: no fat bodies Fat Bee: lots of fat bodies Fountain of Youth Vitellogenin is Vital • Vitellogenin makes “fat” bees • Protein with multiple purposes • Prolongs queen and worker life spans • Varroa infestation = no “fat” winter bees! While we are raking leaves in fall and attending conferences, the bees continue preparing for winter Fall: LookingFountain for easy of mealYouth by robbing Vitellogenin is Vital • Vitellogenin makes “fat” bees • Protein with multiple purposes • Prolongs queen and worker life spans • Varroa infestation = no “fat” winter bees! What happened to my sweet bees? Winter starts for the bees when the temperature is consistently below 50 degrees; the bees go into cluster What you can expect your first year What to expect the first year • The bees to fill first two brood boxes • Bees produce about 60 pounds of honey; they need approximately 60 to 100 pounds – not necessarily any left for you • Prepare to treat for Varroa mites in the fall • Prepare to feed the bees any times during the year if their stores run low especially during late winter/early spring Bees will fill 2 brood boxes Bees will need 60+ pounds for winter You need to prepare your Varroa mite strategy You will need to feed if needed Be prepared to enjoy the journey Success The End Photo: Suzanne Jurgens Questions? .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Protarctos Abstrusus
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A basal ursine bear (Protarctos abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic reveals Eurasian afnities Received: 18 August 2017 Accepted: 24 November 2017 and a diet rich in fermentable Published: xx xx xxxx sugars Xiaoming Wang 1,2,3, Natalia Rybczynski4,5, C. Richard Harington4, Stuart C. White6 & Richard H. Tedford3 The skeletal remains of a small bear (Protarctos abstrusus) were collected at the Beaver Pond fossil site in the High Arctic (Ellesmere I., Nunavut). This mid-Pliocene deposit has also yielded 12 other mammals and the remains of a boreal-forest community. Phylogenetic analysis reveals this bear to be basal to modern bears. It appears to represent an immigration event from Asia, leaving no living North American descendants. The dentition shows only modest specialization for herbivory, consistent with its basal position within Ursinae. However, the appearance of dental caries suggest a diet high in fermentable- carbohydrates. Fossil plants remains, including diverse berries, suggests that, like modern northern black bears, P. abstrusus may have exploited a high-sugar diet in the fall to promote fat accumulation and facilitate hibernation. A tendency toward a sugar-rich diet appears to have arisen early in Ursinae, and may have played a role in allowing ursine lineages to occupy cold habitats. In 1970, Philip Bjork described a small fossil bear from the Pliocene Glenn’s Ferry Formation of southwestern Idaho. Based on a single m1 as the holotype, he was understandably perplexed and named it Ursus abstrusus. Additional material has not been forthcoming since its initial description and this bear has remained an enigma.
    [Show full text]
  • ARTHROPODA Subphylum Hexapoda Protura, Springtails, Diplura, and Insects
    NINE Phylum ARTHROPODA SUBPHYLUM HEXAPODA Protura, springtails, Diplura, and insects ROD P. MACFARLANE, PETER A. MADDISON, IAN G. ANDREW, JOCELYN A. BERRY, PETER M. JOHNS, ROBERT J. B. HOARE, MARIE-CLAUDE LARIVIÈRE, PENELOPE GREENSLADE, ROSA C. HENDERSON, COURTenaY N. SMITHERS, RicarDO L. PALMA, JOHN B. WARD, ROBERT L. C. PILGRIM, DaVID R. TOWNS, IAN McLELLAN, DAVID A. J. TEULON, TERRY R. HITCHINGS, VICTOR F. EASTOP, NICHOLAS A. MARTIN, MURRAY J. FLETCHER, MARLON A. W. STUFKENS, PAMELA J. DALE, Daniel BURCKHARDT, THOMAS R. BUCKLEY, STEVEN A. TREWICK defining feature of the Hexapoda, as the name suggests, is six legs. Also, the body comprises a head, thorax, and abdomen. The number A of abdominal segments varies, however; there are only six in the Collembola (springtails), 9–12 in the Protura, and 10 in the Diplura, whereas in all other hexapods there are strictly 11. Insects are now regarded as comprising only those hexapods with 11 abdominal segments. Whereas crustaceans are the dominant group of arthropods in the sea, hexapods prevail on land, in numbers and biomass. Altogether, the Hexapoda constitutes the most diverse group of animals – the estimated number of described species worldwide is just over 900,000, with the beetles (order Coleoptera) comprising more than a third of these. Today, the Hexapoda is considered to contain four classes – the Insecta, and the Protura, Collembola, and Diplura. The latter three classes were formerly allied with the insect orders Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) and Thysanura (silverfish) as the insect subclass Apterygota (‘wingless’). The Apterygota is now regarded as an artificial assemblage (Bitsch & Bitsch 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Fossil Insects from the Late Oligocene Enspel Lagerstätte and Their Palaeobiogeographic and Palaeoclimatic Significance
    Palaeobio Palaeoenv (2010) 90:49–58 DOI 10.1007/s12549-009-0013-5 ORIGINAL PAPER Fossil insects from the Late Oligocene Enspel Lagerstätte and their palaeobiogeographic and palaeoclimatic significance Sonja Wedmann & Markus Poschmann & Thomas Hörnschemeyer Received: 7 September 2009 /Revised: 30 September 2009 /Accepted: 26 October 2009 /Published online: 19 November 2009 # The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Fossil insects can provide unique insights into document that the distribution of many insect groups in the evolutionary history, and their study has become increasingly Oligocene was distinctly wider than it is today. important in recent decades. In this paper, we give an over- view of the insect taphocoenosis from the upper Oligocene Keywords Enspel . Germany. Insects . Oligocene . Enspel Lagerstätte (Germany) and discuss taphonomic Palaeobiogeography. Paleogene . Taphocoenosis similarities with other localities. Among the fossil insects identified, terrestrial groups are highly dominant, with march flies (Bibionidae) and weevils (Curculionoidea) being the Introduction most common groups; aquatic insects are rare. We provide a detailed survey of the represented taxa, including new Fossil insects have been found in a wide range of different records of a predaceous diving beetle (Dytiscidae), a soldier deposits, and the record of insect fossils is surprisingly beetle (Cantharidae) and mayfly larvae (Ephemeroptera). diverse. Ambers around the world have yielded huge Updated information on the ants (Formicidae) and reticulated numbers of insect inclusions, but their record from other beetles (Cupedidae) is reported. The palaeoclimatic and deposits is probably equally large (e.g. Rasnitsyn and palaeobiogeographic inferences that can be drawn from the Quicke 2002; Grimaldi and Engel 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
    Wekiva River Basin State Parks Approved Unit Management Plan STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Division of Recreation and Parks October 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................1 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PARK ....................................... 1 Park Significance ................................................................................2 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE PLAN..................................................... 7 MANAGEMENT PROGRAM OVERVIEW ................................................... 9 Management Authority and Responsibility .............................................. 9 Park Management Goals ...................................................................... 9 Management Coordination ................................................................. 10 Public Participation ............................................................................ 10 Other Designations ........................................................................... 10 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMPONENT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 13 RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT..................................... 19 Natural Resources ............................................................................. 19 Topography .................................................................................. 19 Geology ......................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Honey Bee from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Honey bee From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A honey bee (or honeybee) is any member of the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the Honey bees construction of perennial, colonial nests from wax. Currently, only seven Temporal range: Oligocene–Recent species of honey bee are recognized, with a total of 44 subspecies,[1] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N though historically six to eleven species are recognized. The best known honey bee is the Western honey bee which has been domesticated for honey production and crop pollination. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees.[2] Some other types of related bees produce and store honey, including the stingless honey bees, but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees. The study of bees, which includes the study of honey bees, is known as melittology. Western honey bee carrying pollen Contents back to the hive Scientific classification 1 Etymology and name Kingdom: Animalia 2 Origin, systematics and distribution 2.1 Genetics Phylum: Arthropoda 2.2 Micrapis 2.3 Megapis Class: Insecta 2.4 Apis Order: Hymenoptera 2.5 Africanized bee 3 Life cycle Family: Apidae 3.1 Life cycle 3.2 Winter survival Subfamily: Apinae 4 Pollination Tribe: Apini 5 Nutrition Latreille, 1802 6 Beekeeping 6.1 Colony collapse disorder Genus: Apis 7 Bee products Linnaeus, 1758 7.1 Honey 7.2 Nectar Species 7.3 Beeswax 7.4 Pollen 7.5 Bee bread †Apis lithohermaea 7.6 Propolis †Apis nearctica 8 Sexes and castes Subgenus Micrapis: 8.1 Drones 8.2 Workers 8.3 Queens Apis andreniformis 9 Defense Apis florea 10 Competition 11 Communication Subgenus Megapis: 12 Symbolism 13 Gallery Apis dorsata 14 See also 15 References 16 Further reading Subgenus Apis: 17 External links Apis cerana Apis koschevnikovi Etymology and name Apis mellifera Apis nigrocincta The genus name Apis is Latin for "bee".[3] Although modern dictionaries may refer to Apis as either honey bee or honeybee, entomologist Robert Snodgrass asserts that correct usage requires two words, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Entomologies: Insects, Empires, and the ‘Synthetic Age’ *
    Downloaded from http://past.oxfordjournals.org/ at Amherst College Library, Serials Section on October 31, 2013 , new edn charts in the 1 The Last Loop of the * Billboard ThePastandPresentSociety,Oxford,2013 I Oriental Rugs Today: A Guide to the Best New ß lu and Oktay Aslanapa, d o ´ (Istanbul, 2006). On the different materials used in lmecid I (1839–61) founded the Hereke ¨ Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz British Military Spectacle: From the Napoleonic Wars through the , 2nd edn (Berkeley, 2003), 80; for more on the Hereke Imperial IN WORLD HISTORY (2013) (Cambridge, Mass., 1996), 68. Stuart Nicholson, GLOBAL ENTOMOLOGIES: INSECTS, A trio of more incongruous events, spanning three centuries, * Thanks to Nina Gordon, Steven Gray, Hannah Greenwald, Ken Kopp, Tricia 1 EMPIRES, AND THE ‘SYNTHETIC AGE’ doi:10.1093/pastj/gtt026 In November 1944, Decca RecordsElla released Fitzgerald an and album The Ink featuring Spots.‘I’m The Making two Believe’ tracks and on ‘Into the Eachspent record, Life seventeen Some Rain weeks Must at Fall’, United the States top and oftween inaugurated the the ‘First a Lady long-termMilt of collaboration Song’ Gabler. and be- Ottoman the A Sultan fabled Abdu century record producer before this musical milestone, the (New York, 1995), 81. EmmettCarpets Eiland, from the East Carpet Manufacture, see Ayt¸eFazly Past and Present Lipton, Benjamin Madley, JerryPeterson, Melillo, Khary Lalise Polk, Melillo, Elizabeth Michaelearlier Pryor O’Connor, versions and of Dawn this Theodore article. Waddelow for their input on might seem difficult totonishing imagine, feature. They yet depended these on the episodes tremendous share productive an as- Imperial Carpet Manufacture tohis produce Palace elaborate Dolmabahc¸e on silk the rugs Seagant for of carpets, Marmara.
    [Show full text]
  • I M. Sc, Zoology – II Semester Subject: APICULTURE Sub. Code: 18KP2ZELZ2 (Unit I & II)
    I M. Sc, Zoology – II Semester Subject: APICULTURE Sub. Code: 18KP2ZELZ2 (Unit I & II) Unit I APICULTURE Apiculture or bee-keeping is the technique of rearing honey bees for honey and wax from their comb or beehives. Selection of sites for quality honey and protection of bees and combs from pests and diseases are part of apiculture. Bees are economically important social insects. They not only provide us with honey and wax, they are also responsible for pollination of flowers of the majority of damaged bee larvae, pollen grains, etc. of commercially important plants. The common Indian honey bees are Apis (Megapis) dorsal, A. (Microapis) florea and A. indica. HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING ➢ Primitive man used to rob bee colonies found in the cavities of hollow trees or on rocks and in traditional mud houses and this is still being followed by some tribes. ➢ There was no development in beekeeping until 16th century. ➢ Proper beekeeping started only when man started giving protection to colonies found in the nature. ➢ Idea to keep bees in log hives has been reported to come from the fallen trees which were nested by the cavity nesting bees. ➢ Development of modern bee keeping has its origin between 1500 and 1851 when many attempts were made to domesticate bees in different types of hives but were not successful because bees attached their combs together as well as to the walls of hive and combs required had to be cut for honey. ➢ The discovery of the principle of bee space in 1851 by L. L. Langstroth in USA resulted in first truly movable frame hive.
    [Show full text]
  • Morphometric and Wings Venation Analysis of Honey Bee Species in Dehradun, Uttarakhand
    ISSN 2456-7876 Archive of Life Science and Environment (Arch. Life Sci. & Env.) 1 (2): 21-25 (2017) Morphometric and Wings Venation Analysis of Honey Bee Species in Dehradun, Uttarakhand Ashish Uniyal1* Neetika Thakur1, Diksha Thakur1 and Nikhil S. Kahera1 1 Department of Zoology, Uttaranchal College of Science and Technology, (Dehradun-248001) Uttarakhand, INDIA *Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] Astrat: Alost all speies of hoe ees ae foud i Idia. Hoe ees pla a ipotat ole i the oseatio of iodiesit ad eolutio of a plat speies polliatio. The peset stud iestigates ophologial haates of hoe ees usig a siple tehiue alled as Sa Photo Tehiue. Sa Photo Tehiue STP is a lo ost, fast ad easie ethod fo ophoeti disiiatio fo hoe ee popula- tios. Soe ophologial haateistis of od pats of hoe eeokes ee seleted ad disseted hih ee futhe saed as iage usig a sae. Statistial aalses of ophologial haateistis of hoe ees suh as foe ig legth FWL, hid ig legth HWL, foe ig idth FWW, hid ig legth HWW, feu legth FM, tia legth TL, asitasus legth BL ad the legth of uital idees ad agles of foe igs ad hid ig ee disiiated. Introduction Morphometric and wing pattern study is laborious and time consuming for the identification of bee species. Honeybee is the member of genus Apis and belongs to Thus standard and geometric morphometrics were em- class insecta (order hymenoptera). Currently only sev- ployed in combination with various computer soft- en species of honeybees viz Apis dorsata, Apis wares and simple methods for investigating wings cerana, Apis mellifera, Apis nearctica, Apis symmetry and for discriminating between Apis spp.
    [Show full text]
  • Protarctos Abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic Reveals Eurasian Affinities and a Diet Rich in Fermentable Sugars
    UCLA UCLA Previously Published Works Title A basal ursine bear (Protarctos abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic reveals Eurasian affinities and a diet rich in fermentable sugars. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/35j6b058 Journal Scientific reports, 7(1) ISSN 2045-2322 Authors Wang, Xiaoming Rybczynski, Natalia Harington, C Richard et al. Publication Date 2017-12-18 DOI 10.1038/s41598-017-17657-8 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A basal ursine bear (Protarctos abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic reveals Eurasian afnities Received: 18 August 2017 Accepted: 24 November 2017 and a diet rich in fermentable Published: xx xx xxxx sugars Xiaoming Wang 1,2,3, Natalia Rybczynski4,5, C. Richard Harington4, Stuart C. White6 & Richard H. Tedford3 The skeletal remains of a small bear (Protarctos abstrusus) were collected at the Beaver Pond fossil site in the High Arctic (Ellesmere I., Nunavut). This mid-Pliocene deposit has also yielded 12 other mammals and the remains of a boreal-forest community. Phylogenetic analysis reveals this bear to be basal to modern bears. It appears to represent an immigration event from Asia, leaving no living North American descendants. The dentition shows only modest specialization for herbivory, consistent with its basal position within Ursinae. However, the appearance of dental caries suggest a diet high in fermentable- carbohydrates. Fossil plants remains, including diverse berries, suggests that, like modern northern black bears, P. abstrusus may have exploited a high-sugar diet in the fall to promote fat accumulation and facilitate hibernation.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogenetics of Bees
    Phylogenetics of Bees Rustem Abuzarovich Ilyasov Doctor in Division of Life Sciences Major of Biological Sciences, and Convergence Research Center for Insect Vectors Incheon National University Songdo-dong, Incheon South Korea and Ufa Scientific Center Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics Ufa Russia Hyung Wook Kwon Professor in Division of Life Sciences Major of Biological Sciences, and Convergence Research Center for Insect Vectors Incheon National University Songdo-dong, Incheon South Korea p, p, A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK Adjlane N., Badmazhapova E., Berezin A., Borodachev A., Brandorf A., Dar S. A., Dukku U.H., Eskov E., Gajda A., Gregorc A., Gulov A., Gushchina E., Hatjina F., Ilyasov R.A., Kandemir I., Kireeva T., Konusova O., Kucher A., Kwon H.W., Lee M.-l, Mitrofanov D., Ostroverkhova N., Özkan-Koca A., Pogorelov Y., Raffiudin R., Requier F., Rodrigues M., Seeley T.D., Yartsev V. (2020) Phylogenetics of bees. Editors: Ilyasov R.A., Kwon H.W. Boca Raton, London, New-York: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group. 290 pp. (12 Color & 55 B/W Illustrations). ISBN 9781138504233. ii Phylogenetics of Bees CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2020 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Version Date: 20190924 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-50423-3 (Hardback) Th is book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable eff orts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use.
    [Show full text]
  • Mating Frequencies of Honey Bee Queens (Apis Mellifera L.) in a Population of Feral Colonies in the Northeastern United States
    RESEARCH ARTICLE Mating Frequencies of Honey Bee Queens (Apis mellifera L.) in a Population of Feral Colonies in the Northeastern United States David R. Tarpy1,2*, Deborah A. Delaney3, Thomas D. Seeley4 1 Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America, 2 W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America, 3 Department of Entomology and Wildlife Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States of America, 4 Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America * [email protected] Abstract Across their introduced range in North America, populations of feral honey bee (Apis melli- fera L.) colonies have supposedly declined in recent decades as a result of exotic parasites, OPEN ACCESS most notably the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. Nonetheless, recent studies have Citation: Tarpy DR, Delaney DA, Seeley TD (2015) documented several wild populations of colonies that have persisted. The extreme polyan- Mating Frequencies of Honey Bee Queens (Apis dry of honey bee queens—and the increased intracolony genetic diversity it confers—has mellifera L.) in a Population of Feral Colonies in the been attributed, in part, to improved disease resistance and may be a factor in the survival Northeastern United States. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0118734. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118734 of these populations of feral colonies. We estimated the mating frequencies of queens in feral colonies in the Arnot Forest in New York State to determine if the level of polyandry of Academic Editor: James C.
    [Show full text]
  • Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of the Bees (Hymenoptera), with an Emphasis on Apidae and the Evolutionary History of Social and Cleptoparasitic Behavior
    MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE BEES (HYMENOPTERA), WITH AN EMPHASIS ON APIDAE AND THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF SOCIAL AND CLEPTOPARASITIC BEHAVIOR A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Sophie Carole Cardinal February 2010 © 2010 Sophie Carole Cardinal MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE BEES (HYMENOPTERA), WITH AN EMPHASIS ON APIDAE AND THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF SOCIAL AND CLEPTOPARASITIC BEHAVIOR Sophie Carole Cardinal, Ph.D. Cornell University 2010 Apidae (Hymenoptera) is the most speciose family of bees with over 5600 species. The family is notable for having some of the most important pollinators of managed crops, yet also comprises a rich diversity of social and parasitic lifestyles, host plant affinities, and ecosystem services. Despite its importance, relationships among the tribes within Apidae remain unclear. To date, rigorous phylogenetic analysis has been challenged by long-standing assumptions about the relatedness of cleptoparasitic groups in relation to their hosts. I performed the first large-scale phylogenetic study of the family Apidae based on DNA sequence data, including representative taxa from all 33 apid tribes. I then used this phylogeny to investigate the origins and antiquity of cleptoparasitism and sociality. Results indicate that most cleptoparasitic apid bees form a monophyletic group, and therefore stem from a single origin of cleptoparasitism (with two more origins in the Euglossini orchid bees and one in the tribe Ctenoplectrini). Divergence time analysis using a relaxed fossil- calibrated molecular clock model reveals that cleptoparasitism is an ancient behavior in apid bees that first evolved ~100 Ma.
    [Show full text]