Long-term field-realistic exposure to a next-generation pesticide, flupyradifurone, impairs honey bee behaviour and survival.

The assessment of pesticide risks to insect pollinators have typically focused on short-term, lethal impacts. The environmental ramifications of many of the world's most commonly employed pesticides, such as those exhibiting systemic properties that can result in long-lasting exposure to insects, may thus be severely underestimated. Here, seven laboratories from Europe and North America performed a standardised experiment (a ring-test) to study the long-term lethal and sublethal impacts of the relatively recently approved 'bee safe' butenolide pesticide flupyradifurone (FPF, active ingredient in Sivanto) on honey bees.

Pesticide risk assessment in honeybees: Toward the use of behavioral and reproductive performances as assessment endpoints.

The growing gap between new evidence of pesticide toxicity in honeybees and conventional toxicological assays recommended by regulatory test guidelines emphasizes the need to complement current lethal endpoints with sublethal endpoints. In this context, behavioral and reproductive performances have received growing interest since the 2000s, likely due to their ecological relevance and/or the emergence of new technologies. We review the biological interests and methodological measurements of these predominantly studied endpoints and discuss their possible use in the pesticide risk assessment procedure based on their standardization level, simplicity and ecological relevance.

Hazard of a neonicotinoid insecticide on the homing flight of the honeybee depends on climatic conditions and Varroa infestation.

The paradigm for all toxicological bioassays in the risk assessment of pesticide registration reflects the principle that experimental conditions should be controlled to avoid any other factors that may affect the endpoint measures. As honeybee colonies can be frequently exposed to bio-aggressors in real conditions, often concomitantly with pesticides, co-exposure to pesticide/bio-aggressors is becoming a concern for regulatory authorities. We investigated the effects of the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam on the homing performances of foragers emerging from colonies differentiated by health status (infestation with Varroa destructor mites, microsporidian parasite Nosema spp.

Larval Exposure to the Juvenile Hormone Analog Pyriproxyfen Disrupts Acceptance of and Social Behavior Performance in Adult Honeybees.

Background: Juvenile hormone (JH) plays an important role in honeybee development and the regulation of age-related division of labor. However, honeybees can be exposed to insect growth regulators (IGRs), such as JH analogs developed for insect pest and vector control. Although their side effects as endocrine disruptors on honeybee larval or adult stages have been studied, little is known about the subsequent effects on adults of a sublethal larval exposure.

Abdominal sensory equipment involved in external host discrimination in a solitary parasitoid wasp.

Already parasitized hosts are often of poorer quality than healthy hosts. It is therefore usually advantageous for parasitoid females to recognize and reject them. Parasitized hosts can be identified on the basis of various physical or chemical marks present on the surface or inside the hosts or their surroundings in the case of concealed host.

Honeybee tracking with microchips: a new methodology to measure the effects of pesticides.

Losses of foraging bees are sometimes attributed to altered flight pattern between a meliferous plant treated with an insecticide and the hive. Only a limited number of studies has investigated the impact of pesticides on homing flight due to the difficulty of measuring the flight time between the food source and the hive. Monitoring the flights of the foraging bees needs their individual identification.