Defense behavior of three, free living giant (Megapis) honey bee subspecies, Apis laboriosa, A. dorsata dorsata and A. dorsata breviligula, was compared. Disturbed worker bees responded with characteristic dorso-ventral defense body twisting (DBT). Workers of A. laboriosa twisted the thorax by 55°, and the two other A. dorsata subspecies by about 10° more. A. laboriosa workers raised the tip of the abdomen by 90° and workers of the two other bee subspecies by about 20° higher. Differences in those traits were highly significant between A. laboriosa and both A. dorsata subspecies, but were not significant between those two subspecies. The whole cycle of DBT was the most vigorous in A. d. breviligula (0.11 s), and it was twice as vigorous as in A. d. dorsata (0.26 s) and trice as in A. laboriosa (0.32 s). A. laboriosa twisted the body together with wings folded over the abdomen, while the two A. dorsata subspecies raised the abdomen between spread wings. This supports the opinion to treat A. laboriosa as a separate species.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of chronical exposure of honeybee drones to environmental (5 ppb) and non-environmental concentration (200 ppb) of imidacloprid (IMD) on sperm concentration, motility, viability, and mitochondrial membrane potential measured in semen obtained from 180 drones originating from 18 colonies. The results demonstrate that IMD exposure did not affect sperm concentration; however, there were significant differences in concentration within colonies. IMD exposure was associated with reductions in sperm motility, which also varied within colonies. Statistically significant interactions between IMD exposure and colony were found for active mitochondria and sperm viability. Our results strongly suggest that neonicotinoids can negatively affect honeybee drone sperm quality. It is important to emphasize that IMD actions can be strongly modulated according to the colony.

Oxidative stress is defined as a disturbance in the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant defences. We measured total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in honeybee haemolymph and seminal plasma and analysed TAC of haemolymph in relation to age and exposure to pesticide. TAC of haemolymph increased with age of bees (1.18 vs 1.97 mM of (±)-6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchromane-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox) for 1- and 30-day-old bees, respectively, P ≤ 0.05). Exposure to imidacloprid (IMD) affected TAC of haemolymph of 1-day-old but not 30-day-old honeybees. TAC in haemolymph of 1-day-old bees was lower in treatments with the addition of 5 and 200 ppb IMD (1.57–1.46 mM of Trolox in treated bees compared with 2.37 mM of Trolox in controls; P ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, antioxidant protection of honeybees seems to be related to age and may be disturbed by exposure to IMD. Older bees with higher antioxidant protection seem to be less susceptible to IMD toxicity. The toxic effect of pesticide seems to be particularly dangerous in early life stages of honeybees.

Northern Poland is inhabited by native Apis mellifera mellifera (AMM) and the non-native A. m. carnica (AMC) which was introduced by beekeepers. However, hybrids between the two subspecies of honey bee are relatively rare. The lower than expected proportion of hybrids is hypothesised to be related to reproductive isolation between AMM and AMC. To verify this hypothesis, we allowed the AMM and AMC queens to be naturally inseminated in an area inhabited by both AMM and AMC drones. Genotype of the queens and their sexual partners were derived based on random samples of their worker offspring. Assignment of parental genotypes to the two subspecies was performed with a Bayesian clustering method. In colonies headed by AMM queens, workers were fathered mainly by AMM drones. On the other hand, in colonies headed by AMC queens workers were fathered by drones of both subspecies. The partial reproductive isolation reported here between AMM and AMC may facilitate conservation of the declining population of AMM.