| correlation of sound generation and metabolic heat flux in the bumblebee bombus lapidarius | flying insects produce extreme amounts of heat as a by-product during the contractions of their thoracic flight muscles (heinrich, 1989). before flight, metabolic heat may serve to warm up the thoracic muscles until the minimum lift-off temperature is reached (heinrich, 1974b; stone and willmer, 1989; esch and goller, 1991). social bees and wasps are also able to use the heat produced in their flight muscles for brood incubation and for active regulation of nest temperatures (heinrich, 1974a; se ... | 1994 | 9317879 |
| absolute configuration of chiral terpenes in marking pheromones of bumblebees and cuckoo bumblebees. | the absolute configurations of citronellol, 2,3-dihydrofarnesol, and 2,3-dihydrofarnesal in male marking pheromones of seven species of bumblebees and cuckoo bumblebees were determined by enantioselective gas chromatography on a capillary column coated with 60% heptakis(2,3-di-o-acetyl-6-o-tbdms)-beta-cyclodextrin in polysiloxane ps 268. pure (-)-s-enantiomers of all three terpenes were found in the labial glands of all investigated specimens of the following species: bombus (bombus) terrestris, ... | 2004 | 15034905 |
| cytological variation and pathogenicity of the bumble bee parasite nosema bombi (microspora, nosematidae). | in three field seasons, 2003-2005, bumble bees were collected in southern sweden and eastern denmark in search of microsporidian parasites. of the 16 bumble bee species studied, microsporidia were found in bombus hortorum, bombus hypnorum, bombus lapidarius, bombus lucorum, bombus pascuorum, bombus pratorum, bombus ruderarius, bombus subterraneus and bombus terrestris. only one microsporidian species, nosema bombi, was recorded. a microsporidium found in b. pratorum differed cytologically from m ... | 2007 | 17005191 |
| a delta9 desaturase from bombus lucorum males: investigation of the biosynthetic pathway of marking pheromones. | the knowledge of the molecular basis of communication in bumblebee communities is limited. none of the enzymes that participate in pheromone production have been characterized. here, we cloned the gene encoding the delta(9) desaturase from cdna prepared from the total rna of the pheromone gland and fat bodies of bombus lucorum male. functional expression of blucnpve desaturase in saccharomyces cerevisiae and gc-ms analyses revealed its preference for c(18) saturated fatty acids. this suggests th ... | 2008 | 18785199 |
| bifidobacterium bombi sp. nov., from the bumblebee digestive tract. | gram-positive-staining, anaerobic, non-spore-forming, lactate- and acetate-producing bacterial strains were isolated from the digestive tracts of different bumblebee species (bombus lucorum, bombus pascuorum and bombus lapidarius). all of the isolates produced fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase activity. a representative strain, bluci/tpt, was characterized further. cells of strain bluci/tpt showed occasional bifurcation and irregular constrictions. the bacterium utilized a wide range of carbo ... | 2009 | 19567560 |
| bifidobacteria in the digestive tract of bumblebees. | bifidobacteria and other bacterial groups (lactobacilli, facultative anaerobes, anaerobes) from the digestive tract of three bumblebee species (bombus lucorum (34 samples), bombus pascuorum (18 samples) and bombus lapidarius (9 samples)) were enumerated and characterised. counts of facultative anaerobic bacteria and lactobacilli (5.41+/-2.92 and 2.69+/-3.02 log cfu/g of digestive tract content) were lower than those of anaerobes (7.66+/-0.86 log cfu/g). counts of bifidobacteria were determined u ... | 2010 | 19651224 |
| the role of desaturases in the biosynthesis of marking pheromones in bumblebee males. | bumblebee males (hymenoptera) produce species-specific labial gland secretions called marking pheromones (mps). mps generally consist of terpenoids and fatty-acid-derived aliphatic compounds with various chain lengths predominantly containing one or no double bonds. the unsaturated fatty-acid-derived mp components were hypothesized to be produced by fatty acid desaturases (fads) that exhibit diverse substrate specificities. to address this hypothesis, we isolated and functionally characterized f ... | 2013 | 23727612 |
| [foraging behavior and pollination ecology of bombus lucorum l. and apis mellifera l. in greenhouse peach garden]. | from 2004 to 2006, this paper studied the foraging behavior and pollination ecology of two chinese bee species bombus lucorum l. and apis mellifera l. in greenhouse peach garden in beijing. the results showed that both of the bee species were able to substitute manual work to provide effective pollination, but their foraging behavior and pollination effect differed significantly in terms of their working timing and visiting frequency, temperature, and the location of flowers on peach tree. b. lu ... | 2007 | 17650860 |
| a phylogenetic analysis of cuckoo bumblebees (psithyrus, lepeletier) and bumblebees (bombus, latreille) inferred from sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase i. | pcr amplification and direct sequencing of a 532-bp region of the mt co-1 (cytochrome oxidase i) gene from five true bumblebee species and six cuckoo bumblebee species were performed. the sequences were then aligned to the corresponding sequence in the honey bee. phylogenetic analyses based on parsimony and maximum likelihood indicate that the cuckoo bumblebees form a monophyletic group within the true bumblebees. the bombus lucorum group (subgenus bombus) falls out as the sister group to a clad ... | 1996 | 8728387 |
| bergmann's body size rule operates in facultatively endothermic insects: evidence from a complex of cryptic bumblebee species. | according to bergmann's rule we expect species with larger body size to inhabit locations with a cooler climate, where they may be well adapted to conserve heat and resist starvation. this rule is generally applied to endotherms. in contrast, body size in ectothermic invertebrates has been suggested to follow the reverse ecogeographic trend: these converse bergmann's patterns may be driven by the ecological constraints of shorter season length and lower food availability in cooler high latitude ... | 2016 | 27741245 |
| regulation of isoprenoid pheromone biosynthesis in bumblebee males. | males of the closely related species bombus terrestris and bombus lucorum attract conspecific females by completely different marking pheromones. mp of b. terrestris and b. lucorum pheromones contain mainly isoprenoid (isp) compounds and fatty acid derivatives, respectively. here, we studied the regulation of isp biosynthesis in both bumblebees. rna-seq and qrt-pcr analyses indicated that acetoacetyl-coa thiolase (aact), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coa reductase (hmgr), and farnesyl diphosphate s ... | 2016 | 26632352 |
| de novo biosynthesis of sexual pheromone in the labial gland of bumblebee males. | de novo biosynthesis of male sex pheromone from two bumblebee species (bombus terrestris and bombus lucorum) was studied by using in vitro incubations of labial glands (lgs) with radioactive [1,2-(14)c]acetate and deuterated [d(3)]acetate. the labeled substrate was incorporated into several types of compounds, such as terpenic alcohols, fatty acids, esters, and hydrocarbons. a similar incubation of [1,2-(14)c]acetate with fat bodies (fb) led to the formation of fatty acids, triacylglycerols (tag ... | 2013 | 23325667 |
| colour patterns do not diagnose species: quantitative evaluation of a dna barcoded cryptic bumblebee complex. | cryptic diversity within bumblebees (bombus) has the potential to undermine crucial conservation efforts designed to reverse the observed decline in many bumblebee species worldwide. central to such efforts is the ability to correctly recognise and diagnose species. the b. lucorum complex (bombus lucorum, b. cryptarum and b. magnus) comprises one of the most abundant and important group of wild plant and crop pollinators in northern europe. although the workers of these species are notoriously d ... | 2012 | 22238595 |
| selection of reference genes for real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis in tissues from bombus terrestris and bombus lucorum of different ages. | quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (pcr) is an accurate and sensitive technique for gene expression analysis. however, it requires data normalization using reference genes. here we assessed the stability of eight reference genes in the labial gland and fat body of the bumblebees bombus terrestris and bombus lucorum of different ages. to date, no reference genes have been identified for these species. our data show that arginine kinase (ak) and phospholipase a2 (pla2) are the most s ... | 2010 | 19751695 |
| comparison of age-dependent quantitative changes in the male labial gland secretion of bombus terrestris and bombus lucorum. | age-related changes of antennal-active components of male labial gland extracts were studied in two closely related bumblebee species, bombus terrestris and b. lucorum. in b. terrestris, compounds eliciting electroantennogram (eag) responses of virgin queens were ethyl dodecanoate, 2,3-dihydrofarnesal, 2,3-dihydrofarnesol, hexadecan-1-ol, octadeca-9,12,15-trien-1-ol, and geranylcitronellol. compounds that elicited eag responses from queens of b. lucorum were ethyl dodecanoate, ethyl tetradec-7-e ... | 2009 | 19543770 |
| analysis of triacylglycerols in fat body of bumblebees by chromatographic methods. | triacylglycerols (tags) from the fat body of several bumblebee species (bombus lucorum, b. terrestris, b. lapidarius, b. hypnorum, b. hortorum, and b. confusus) were studied using chromatographic techniques. semi-preparative thin-layer chromatography was used to isolate the tags from the tissue extract. gas chromatography (gc) enabled us to identify the fatty acids (fas) that form bumblebee tags and to quantify their relative proportions. the tags were subsequently analysed by high-performance l ... | 2006 | 16246355 |
| exocrine gland secretions of virgin queens of five bumblebee species (hymenoptera: apidae, bombini). | secretions of three different glands (mandibular gland, labial gland, and dufour's gland) of virgin queens of five bumblebee species (bombus lucorum, b. lapidarius, b. hypnorum, b. pascuorum, and b. terrestris) were analysed. around 200 compounds were identified in the secretions. the compositions of the secretions of labial and mandibular glands were species-specific. dufour's gland of all species produced mainly hydrocarbons, both saturated and unsaturated, the proportions of which differed qu ... | 2009 | 15813384 |
| foraging in male bumblebees (bombus lucorum l.): maximizing energy or minimizing water load? | the o2, co2, and h2o exchange of single flying male bumblebees (bombus lucorum and b. terrestris) were measured simultaneously. a respiratory quotient rq=1 was found for all activities investigated (torpor-flight). the dependence of respiratory co2 production in flight on body-weight was measured: for a 220-mg male bumblebee it amounts to 24.5 mg co2/h (=56.4 ml o2/g·h). the corresponding evaporative water loss amounts to 6 mg h2o/h. males tranferred to a climatic test chamber and conditioned to ... | 1984 | 28310885 |