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SummaryQueen honey bees were fed Nosema apis spores in sucrose solution, returned to their hives, and examined later for N. apis infection by a polymerase chain reaction test. Eggs, larvae and pupae from the hives were also examined for infection on three observation dates during a 39 day period following the inoculation of the queens. Six of seven surviving queens developed N. apis infections in their ventriculi, but none had detectable N. apis in their ovaries. No eggs, larvae or pupae taken from the hives of Nosema inoculated queens contained detectable N. apis. These results suggest that N. apis is not transmitted vertically, unlike many other Microsporidia in other invertebrate hosts.In an effort to determine if the stress of shipping increased the susceptibility of Nosema exposed bees, another set of mated, queen honey bees was fed N. apis spores in sucrose, and the queens were then either mailed in small shipping cages, from Kentucky to Indiana and back, or kept caged for the same period in the lab...

SUMMARYMany assays for measuring defensive behaviour of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are reported in the literature, but their reliability in most cases has not been assessed. This study was conducted to determine the reliability and convenience of four field assays: (1) a test to score behavioural traits that differ between defensive and gentle bees (ratings assay), (2) two stinging tests in which a leather patch is presented to the bees above the brood chamber (flag assay), or (3) in a confined space (box assay), and (4) a test to measure the numbers of bees recruited at the hive entrance in response to a chemical stimulus (pheromone assay). Six colonies each of three different bee types known to vary in their defensive responses (European, Africanized, and hybrid) were established and tested with the assays. To determine the reliability of the assays, coefficients of variation (CV) among trials for single colonies were calculated. Additionally, colonies were ranked according to their degree of d...