African meliponine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) maintained in man-made hives as potential hosts for the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

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1 International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), P.O. Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
2 Department of Entomology, College of Biological and Physical Sciences , P.O. Box 30197-00100, Chiromo Campus, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
3 Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, 1600/1700 SW 23rd, Gainesville, FL 32606, USDA/ARS, Gainesville, Florida, United States
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Animal Behavior, Ecology, Entomology
Keywords
Aethina tumida, small hive beetle, Meliponine bee species, behaviour, Honey bees
Copyright
© 2016 Bobadoye et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Bobadoye BO, Ayuka FT, Kiatoko N, Raina S, Teal P, Torto B. 2016. African meliponine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) maintained in man-made hives as potential hosts for the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) PeerJ Preprints 4:e2310v1

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that natural honeybee and bumble bee colonies are hosts of the small hive beetle (SHB) Aethina tumida, a pest of honeybee colonies in various regions of the world. Recent studies also reported the presence of SHBs in colonies of certain meliponine bee species. In this study, we investigated whether SHBs detect odors of African meliponine bees and their hive matrix components. We also compared the chemical profiles of the honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata and meliponine bee odors in order to identify common potential semiochemicals between the two bee species. We used dual-choice olfactometric assays to test the responses of adult male and female SHBs to intact colony odors from six meliponine bee species, namely Hypotrigona gribodoi, Meliponula ferruginea (black), M. ferruginea (reddish-brown), Plebeina hildbrandti, M. bocandei and M. lendiliana and their hive matrix components including pot honey, pot pollen, cerumen (involucrum) and propolis (batumen). We found that female SHBs responded more strongly to odors from intact colonies, pot honey and pollen from five out of the six species tested than male beetles. Chemical analysis identified several common components in colony odors emitted by both honeybees and a representative meliponine bee species, M. ferruginea (black). In particular, nine of these common components previously have been shown in honeybee volatiles to be semiochemicals for the SHB, suggesting that African meliponine bees can also serve as potential alternate hosts for the beetle. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of domesticating African meliponine bees in man-made hives for the pollination of crops.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Olfactometer setup

Figure 1: Olfactometer setup.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-1

Male and female SHBs responses to individual and whole hive components

Figure 2: Male and female SHBs responses to individual and whole hive components.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-2

A representative chromatogram of chemical components of whole hive odors in Meliponine (Meliponula ferruginea (black) and Honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata)

Fig 3: A representative chromatogram of chemical components of whole hive odors in Meliponine ( Meliponula ferruginea (black) and Honeybees ( Apis mellifera scutellata ).

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-3

A representative diagram of unique and common chemical components of whole hive odors in Meliponine bees (Meliponula ferruginea) and Honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata)

Fig 4: A representative diagram of unique and common chemical components of whole hive odors in Meliponine bees ( Meliponula ferruginea ) and Honeybees ( Apis mellifera scutellata ).

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-4

A summary of the ANOVA of Aethina tumida responses to odors of four hive components from six Afro tropical meliponine bee species

Table 1: A summary of the ANOVA of Aethina tumida responses to odors of four hive components from six Afro tropical meliponine bee species.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-5

Chemicals identified from the volatiles released by intact Apis mellifera and Meliponula ferruginea colonies

Table 2: Chemicals identified from the volatiles released by intact Apis mellifera and Meliponula ferruginea colonies.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2310v1/supp-6