Status of pathogens and other potential enemies of native bumblebees in Argentina. En simposio: Global bee health and specific issues in Latin America

MAGGI, M. D.; PLISCHUK, S.; REVAINERA, P.; LUCÍA, M.; ABRAHAMOVICH, A. H.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 45th Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology - International Congress on Invertebrate Pathology and Microbial Control; 2012

Society for Invertebrate Pathology

Honey bees and bumble bees, the two main insect pollinators, are suffering population declines in several areas of the world since ca. 10 years ago. Especially some species of genus Bombus are becoming threatened in Europe and North America, and parasites appear like one of the possible causes of these depopulations. Knowledge about parasites, pathogens and natural enemies of Bombus spp. in South America is scarce. Researchers from three Argentine institutions [Arthropods Laboratory of Mar del Plata National University, Entomological Division, La Plata Museum (MLP), and Center for Parasitological and Vectors Studies (CEPAVE)] are focused to detect and identify different diseases in Bombus species, with emphasis in the two more ubiquitous native ones: Bombus atratus, and Bombus bellicosus. At the moment, we have detected seven species of acari infesting B. atratus and B. bellicosus (Kuzinia laevis, Kuzinia Americana, Scutacarus acarorum, Pneumolaelaps longanalis, Pneumolaelaps longipilus, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, and Parasitellus fucorum), the microsporidium Nosema ceranae in both species also in the native Bombus morio, the nematode Sphaerularia bombi in B. atratus, and larvae of Tachinidae flies in the same host. Other entomopathogenic protists like Crithidia bombi (Euglenozoa) or Apicystis bombi (Neogregarinorida) have been not detected in these species, but in the invasive Bombus terrestris. We envisage cooperative studies to further assess the diversity of pathogens and parasites, as well as their impact on native pollinators