European Foulbrood in stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) in Brazil: Old disease, renewed threat

Abstract

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are a group of bees with vestigial stings showing a high level of social organization. They are important pollinators in tropical and subtropical regions, and, in the last decades, stingless beekeeping has increased rapidly in Brazil. Bee-collected pollen and honey of Apis mellifera can be an important source of disease when used as supplements to feed stingless bee colonies, a common and increasing practice adopted by stingless beekeepers. Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of pathogens commonly found in honey bees in diseased colonies of Melipona species in Espírito Santo and São Paulo States, Southeast Brazil. We detected, for the first time, the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius and symptoms of European foulbrood in Melipona spp., associated with brood death and colony losses in some cases. In addition, we tested for the presence of the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae and the fungus Aschosphaera apis, as well as the six more common honey bee viruses in Brazil (BQCV, ABPV, DWV, KBV, IAPV, CBPV) and the microsporidia Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. However, only one sample of brood was infected with N. ceranae and all other pathogens, with the exception of Melissococcus plutonius, were absent in the analyzed brood. Lastly, we looked for toxic pollen in all food fed to diseased colonies, but none was present.

Keywords: Bee losses; Brood disease; Melipona; Melissococcus plutonius; Pathogens.