Red-tailed bumblebees found to be key hosts for dangerous bee virus
Phys.org • • science
Key Points:
- A study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Georg August University of Göttingen identified the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) as the key host for acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), challenging the previous assumption that honeybees were the primary hosts.
- While ABPV causes little harm to bumblebees, infection is usually fatal to honeybees, leading to symptoms like trembling, inability to fly, and rapid colony collapse.
- Researchers used field data from 32 locations and virus screening of 1,725 insects to analyze virus spread, employing the basic reproduction number (R₀) to determine each bee species' contribution to virus transmission.
- The study found honeybees are the main carriers of deformed wing virus (DWV) and black queen cell virus (BQCV), but wild bees like the red-tailed bumblebee are significant reservoirs for ABPV.
- Findings emphasize that virus transmission is more influenced by direct contact between bees at flowers than by the overall composition of bee species at a site, offering insights for disease management in pollinator populations.
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