Little information is available regarding the adverse effects of pesticides on natural honey bee populations. This study highlights the detrimental effects of pesticides on honey bee olfaction through behavioural studies, scanning electron microscopic imaging of antennal sensillae and confocal microscopic studies of honey bee brains for calcium ions on Apis cerana, a native Indian honey bee species. There was a significant decrease in proboscis extension response and biologically active free calcium ions and adverse changes in antennal sensillae in pesticide exposed field honey bee populations compared to morphometrically similar honey bees sampled from low/no pesticide sites. Controlled laboratory experiments corroborated these findings. This study reports for the first time the changes in antennal sensillae, expression of Calpain 1(an important calcium binding protein) and resting state free calcium in brains of honey bees exposed to pesticide stress.

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Field populations of native Indian honey bees from pesticide intensive agricultural landscape show signs of impaired olfaction.

Relatively little known about the sensory morphology of olfactory sensilla in three species of native honeybees that play an important role as pollinators in Tha iland. Here we provide a detailed description and analys is of the antennal sensilla ultramorphology of A pis andreniformis, A. dorsata a nd A. florea workers using scanning electron microscopy. Each antenna had one segmented scape, a pivoted pedicel and ten-segmented flagellum. There were substantial differences in the dens ity of sensilla, with A. andreniformis and A. flor ea having twice the density of A. dorsata and nearly four times the density of A. cerana. There were eight types of antennal sensilla in A. dorsata, including sensilla ampullaceous, sensilla basiconica, sensilla campaniforme, sensilla p lacodea, sensilla trichodea type A, B, C and D. Only seven types of antennal sensilla were documented on A. andreniformis and A. florea, as they have no sensilla ampullaceous. The distribution pattern of antennal sensilla of A. andreniformis was quite similar to that of A. flor ea but differed from A. dorsata. This indicates that the two dwarf honeybees, which are closely related, have similar antenna l morphology. A. dor sata showed a greater diversity of chemoreceptive antennal sens illa compared to the dwarf honeybees. Thus, A. dorsata may have a better ability to sense a diversity of odors than species with fewer types of antennal chemoreceptive sensilla, although this remains to be confirmed.

Ultramorphology of antennal sensilla in thai single open nest honeybees (hymenoptera: apidae)

This bibliography of the published literature on Apis cerana was compiled from 2687 references written by 2002 authors and were published in 449 periodicals, conference proceedings, theses, reports and books covering the period 1793–2004. The literature shows greater strength in the applied aspects of beekeeping than basic honeybee biology. Growth of this literature has doubled each decade for the last half century. Apis cerana: bibliography

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Bibliography of Apis cerana Fabricius (1793)

This bibliography of the literature on species of honeybees native to Asia is an extension of the recently published bibliographies on Apis andreniformis (Hepburn and Hepburn 2009), Apis cerana (Hepburn and Hepburn 2006), Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa (Hepburn and Hepburn 2007a), Apis florea (Hepburn and Hepburn 2005) and Apis koschevnikovi (Hepburn and Hepburn 2007b). It was compiled from nearly 3,550 references, written by about 3,000 authors and published in over 700 different periodicals, conference proceedings, theses, reports, books and patents covering the period 1787–2009. The bibliography was prepared by obtaining all references to Asian honeybees published in Zoological Record (1864–2003) and Apicultural Abstracts (1950–2004) as well as the species-specific bibliographies of other workers cited in the Hepburn bibliographies. Subsequently, copies of most of the original publications were obtained, and the references cited therein were traced in continuous iterations into the past until no new references were found. For the period 2005–2009, particular use was made of the website Google Scholar, which is supported by various other citation websites, the most reliable of which are the British Library (BL Direct), US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (http://www.pumed.gov), Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (INIST-CNRS) and Ingenta, a division of Publishing Technology plc (http://www.ingentaconnect.com). Recent references in Chinese are available at the website Wanfang Data, an affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, but unfortunately, the citations are incomplete. Oddly enough, Google often gives more download choices for citations of the same article than does Google Scholar. In some cases, incomplete citations (particularly in Chinese) are given because complete information could not always be obtained, and they are marked with an asterisk. Similarly, several citations were

Bibliography of the Asian Species of Honeybees

Morphological and peripheral olfactory responses of antennal chemosensilla of Apis cerana indica, worker honeybee, to commonly occurring plant volatiles were recorded using SEM and EAG techniques, respectively. The antennae of A. cerana indica reveal the predominance of olfactory sensilla besides gustatory and mechanoreceptor cells. Ten different types of olfactory sensilla including sensilla basiconica, placodea type A and B, chaetica, coeloconica, coelocapitula, trichodea type A, B, C and D were reported. Of these, trichodea B and placodea A types were reported to be maximum. Responses to 47 commonly occurring plant volatiles (including 10 aromatic, 12 aliphatic, 04 green leaf volatile, 10 hydrocarbon monoterpene, 08 oxygenated monoterpenes and 03 sesquiterpenes compounds) were shown to elicit the response. Normalized EAG response, relative to the standard 1-hexanol, reveal significant differences between the chemicals and were concentration dependent. At 0.1 mg/mL dose, the largest amplitude was obtained with p-cymene (119.74 ± 6.94) followed by cinnamaldehyde (97.07 ± 4.94) and veratrol (92.99 ± 7.82). Furthermore, at 1.0 mg/mL, maximum stimulation was reported with cinnamaldehyde (92.02 ± 4.26) followed by phenethyl alcohol (86.02 ± 2.63), benzyl alcohol (70.53 ± 2.47), 2-heptanone (67.71 ± 5.02) and 1-heptanol (67.56 ± 2.8). Again, amplitude of the response was found to be maximum with cinnamaldehyde (115.59 ± 6.73) followed by 1-heptanol (105.69 ± 2.45) and citral (100.78 ± 4.93) at 5.0 mg/mL, whereas, at 10.0 mg/mL, phenethyl alcohol (93.45 ± 1.87) and 2-heptanone (93.14 ± 1.85) showed highest stimulation followed by 2-pentanone (92.22 ± 0.43). These documentations provide valuable information regarding how diversity in chemoreceptive antennal sensilla reveals better ability to sense a diversity of odors that are important cues to help honeybee distinguish among species of various flowering plants.

Ashoka S Bhongle

Papers

Antennal Sensilla of Adult Worker Apis Cerana Indica