Prevalence of infection by the microsporidian Nosema spp. In native bumblebees (Bombus spp.) in northern Thailand

Abstract

© 2019 Sinpoo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Bumblebees (tribe Bombini, genus Bombus Latreille) play a pivotal role as pollinators in mountain regions for both native plants and for agricultural systems. In our survey of northern Thailand, four species of bumblebees (Bombus (Megabombus) montivagus Smith, B. (Alpigenobombus) breviceps Smith, B. (Orientalibombus) haemorrhoidalis Smith and B. (Melanobombus) eximius Smith), were present in 11 localities in 4 provinces (Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai and Nan). We collected and screened 280 foraging worker bumblebees for microsporidia (Nosema spp.) and trypanosomes (Crithidia spp.). Our study is the first to demonstrate the parasite infection in bumblebees in northern Thailand. We found N. ceranae in B. montivagus (5.35%), B. haemorrhoidalis (4.76%), and B. breviceps (14.28%) and N. bombi in B. montivagus (14.28%), B. haemorrhoidalis (11.64%), and B. breviceps (28.257%).