A colony of red wood ants can inhabit more than one spatially separated nest, in a strategy called polydomy. Some nests within these polydomous colonies have no foraging trails to aphid colonies in the canopy. In this study we identify and investigate the possible roles of non-foraging nests in polydomous colonies of the wood ant Formica lugubris. To investigate the role of non-foraging nests w...

abstrac:    in recent years, honey bee products other than just honey such as pollen, propolis, waxes and venoms have gained considerable attention. hive is the most important tool in honey bee industry, the proper construction of which could play a key role in improving honey bee production.  since 1382, investigations have been done on hives made inside the country to eliminate deficiencies s...

Partamona seridoensis is an endemic stingless bee from the Caatinga, a Neotropical dry forest in northeastern Brazil. Like other stingless bees, this species plays an important ecological role as a pollinator. The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic structure and evolutionary history of P. seridoensis across its current geographic range. Workers from 84 nests from 17 localit...

Leafcutting bees (Megachile: Megachilidae) cut leaves from various trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses to partition and encase brood cells in hollow plant stems, decaying logs or in the ground. The identification of preferred plant species via morphological characters of the leaf fragments is challenging and direct observation of bees cutting leaves from certain plant species are difficult. ...

In recent years concern over widespread losses in biodiversity has grown to inc lude a poss ib le dec l ine o f many na t ive po l l ina to rs , p r imar i l y bees (Buchmann and Nabhan 1996, The Forgotten Pollinators, Island Press). Factors such as habitat fragmentation, agricultural practices, use of pesticides, the introduction of invasive species, or changes in land use may negatively impac...

Traffic is often acknowledged as a threat to biodiversity, but its effects have been mostly studied on roads subjected to high traffic intensity. The impact of lower traffic intensity such as those affecting protected areas is generally neglected, but conservation-oriented activities entailing motorized traffic could paradoxically transform suitable habitats into ecological traps. Here we quest...

Background and Aims: Currently, many efforts are directed toward functional Hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment. This is achievable by suppression of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) secretion. In this regard, use of natural products has been the areas of interest by scientific communities. Materials and Methods: Dried Honey Bee venom was extracted for assessing its anti-HBsAg secretion potential. He...

Cavity-nesting alfalfa leafcutting bees, Megachile rotundata (F.) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), are excellent pollinators of alfalfa, Medicago savita L., for seed production. In commercial settings, artificial cavities are placed in field domiciles for nesting and, thereby, bee populations are sustained for future use. For this study, cells from leafcutting bee nests were collected in late summe...