Objectives: Royal jelly (RJ), a secretion of both the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of nurse workers, is believed to play a central role in honeybee queen development. Important component of royal jelly are proteins which form about 50% of the dry mass of RJ. Major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) are the dominant proteinaceous component of royal jelly and constitute about 82-90% of total pr...

Objectives: Royal jelly (RJ), a secretion of both the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of nurse workers, is believed to play a central role in honeybee queen development. Important component of royal jelly are proteins which form about 50% of the dry mass of RJ. Major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) are the dominant proteinaceous component of royal jelly and constitute about 82-90% of total pr...

The honey bee has been regarded as a key species in the environmental risk assessment of biotech crops. Here, the potential adverse effects of Cry1Ie toxin on the midgut bacteria of the worker bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) were investigated under laboratory conditions. Newly emerged bees were fed with different concentrations of Cry1Ie toxin syrups (20 ng/mL, 200 ng/mL, and 20 μg/mL), pure su...

Two lines of honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) were selectively propagated by instrumental insemination using the population growth of the Varroa mite as a criteria. Different infestation rates are at least partially genetic since selection produced significant bi-directional differences between lines over a period of three subsequent generations. There was no correlation between several be...

The stinger is a very small and efficient device that allows honeybees to perform two main physiological activities: repelling enemies and laying eggs for reproduction. In this study, we explored the specific characteristics of stinger penetration, where we focused on its movements and the effects of it microstructure. The stingers of Italian honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) were grouped an...

Two areas affected by cement plant emissions, in an industrial district of Central Italy, were investigated foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) on the return to their hives, as situ biomonitor. The contamination was compared with that a background reference area Apennine Mountains, quite far from sources. At all sites, bee colonies stationary. One hundred seventy-seven compounds belon...

The proboscis extension response (PER) assay revealed the responsiveness of three subspecies honeybee Apis mellifera [A. m. jemenitica (AMJ), A. carnica (AMC), and ligustica (AML)] to water different concentrations (0.00001, 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 M) sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose) during summer fall seasons. tested bee showed significantly PERs sugar types across AMJ, a na...