entomology (HONEYBEE/STINGLESS BEE HEALTH AND NUTRITION)

This work was carried out in the apiary yard of the Experimental Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza Governorate. Eighteen honeybee colonies were used representing 3 hybrids (Carniolian, Italian and Egyptian). Results revealed that the highest percentage of acceptance for grafted larvae was recorded in the Italian hybrid followed by Carniolian hybrid, whereas Egyptian hybrid showed the lowest value. On the other hand, the highest mean amount of harvested royal jelly was attained in the Carniolian hybrid followed by Italian hybrid and finally Egyptian hybrid. Statistical analysis showed that there were a positive relations between mean percentages of accepted  grafted larvae and mean amounts of harvested royal jelly for the three hybrids. "t" values showed significant relationship between mean percentage of accepted  grafted larvae and mean amounts of harvested royal jelly in Carniolian hybrid whereas these relations were  insignificant in both Italian and Egyptian hybrids.

The study was carried out in selected districts of Gedeo zones of southern Nation nationality and people's regional state: such as Wonago, Kochere and Dilla Zuria/chichu/ districts. The objective of the study was to asses production systems, opportunities and constraints of apiculture farming in Gedeo zones of SNNPRs. Beekeeping is a long-standing practice in the study districts and appears as ancient history of the country as a whole. A cross sectional study, in which 90 households were purposively included and conducted in selected district to assess the current beekeeping practices, production potentials and production constraints. Most (72%) of the beekeepers in the study area have owned only traditional hives and produce honey for home consumption. The beekeeping practice was dominated by male. Despite the area have production constraints, the area opportunities like existence of large sized natural forest and artificial forest, due attention provision from regional, federal and local government and nongovernmental organizations, yearly flowering and variety floral availability, some small scale farmers highly experienced in apiculture farming, market access and high demand of apicultural products at nationally and international level. Therefore, Designing effective honeybee pests and predators controlling methods, Introduction of full package improved beekeeping technologies with adequate practical skill training on all bee keeping trends and queen rearing practices promoting beekeepers important indigenous knowledge, Producing areal major honeybee plants in large scale, Avoiding discarding of bee colonies after honey harvest, Availing the strategies to support farmers with beekeeping business support services, Improving pre-and post-harvest handling of bee products and Improving the utilization of stingless bee's resources, without damaging the colony is important to make the honey production system in the area more economical, so as to enhance bee products for national and international need.

The 43rd International Apicultural
Congress Apimondia took place in the
Ukrainian capital, the city of Kiev on
September 29th – October 04th 2013, in
which we were participants and presented
our work. On November 04th – 9th 2014
we also participated in the 10th Apislavia
Congress which was arranged concurrently
with the 4th International Mugla Beekeeping
& Pine Honey Congress in Oludeniz,
Mugla Province, in Turkey.

Integrated Management was carried out to determine the effects of three different treatments groups. i.e. 4gm thymol + 3.2% OA and 65% formic acid (T1), 5% clove oil + Tobacco extract and 4gm thymol+3.2% OA (T2) and 5% clove oil + Tobacco extract and 65 % formic acid (T3)  for the control of ectoparasitic mites i.e. Tropilaelaps clareae and Varroa destructor populations in honeybee Apis mellifera colonies round the year at Honey bee Research Institute, NARC, Islamabad. Average mite mortality, efficacy and honey yield was calculated. It was found that T1 had the highest mite mortality number 121, 724 and efficacy 86, 97.75 % for T. clareae and V. destructor, respectively. The total honey production harvested from colonies treated with different acaricides was also determined and significantly more mean amount of honey was produced (30 kg) from the hives treated with 4gm thymol + 3.2% OA and 65% formic acid. It was observed that during all experiments treatment cause no effect upon queen and adult honey bee activities.

Paenibacillus larvae is one of the major bacterial pathogens of honey bee broods and the causative agent of American foul-brood (AFB) disease. The factors responsible for the pathogenesis of AFB disease are still not fully understood, and the increasing resistance of P. larvae to commonly used antibiotics requires a search for new agents to control this disease. An in vitro screen was carried out to determine the antagonistic activity of gut bacteria isolated from indigenous honey bees, Apis mellifera jemenitica of Saudi Arabia against P. larvae. The gut bacterial isolates were evaluated individually against P. larvae ATCC9545 strain by the disc diffusion method. Seven of the 100 evaluated gut bacterial isolates, Fructobacillus fructosus (KY027123); Proteus mirabilis (KY027132); Bacillus licheniformis (KY027142); Lactobacillus kunkeei (KY027158); Bacillus subtilis (KY027169); Enterobacter kobei (KY027178); and Morganella morganii (KY027186) showed strong inhibitory effects. To our knowledge, this the first demonstration of antagonistic activity of F. fructosus, P. mirabilis, E. kobei, and M. morganii isolated from honey bee gut against P. larvae. The tested gut isolates exhibited significant antimicrobial activities against P. larvae, and they could play an important role in the treatment or prevention of AFB disease.

Resumen Se aportan nuevos registros a la fauna de abejas sin aguijón (tribu Meliponini) para los estados de Oaxaca y Chiapas. Para ello, se hicieron muestreos intensivos de estas abejas, con lo cual se reunieron registros de distribución, incluyendo las aportadas por investigadores, las presentes en colecciones y los reportados en la literatura. Se tienen 12 registros nuevos de especies de abejas sin aguijón para Oaxaca y se confirma la presencia en Chiapas de Paratrigona opaca. Adicionalmente, se discute sobre la distribución de estas abejas en estos estados y el país. Se espera que la información sobre la fauna y la distribución de las abejas sin aguijón ayude en los esfuerzos de conservación regional, uso de estas abejas en la meliponicultura y la polinización. Abstract New records for the fauna of stingless bees (tribe Meliponini) in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas are reported. These records were obtained through intensive sampling of these bees. A database of the records generated from this sampling effort was compiled along with data provided by other researchers, data present in collections, and data reported in the literature. The study shows 12 new records of Meliponini not previously identified in Oaxaca, and confirms the presence of the species Paratrigona opaca in Chiapas. In addition, the distribution of these bees in the 2 states and the country is discussed. It is expected that this information on the fauna and distribution of stingless bees will help regional conservation efforts and the use of these bees in stingless beekeeping and pollination.

Meliponiculture, a stingless bees beekeeping has become an important industry in Malaysia. Reports on mass infestation of pests on colonies of domesticated stingless bees (Geniotrigona thoracica and Heterotrigona itama) were received in mid-June 2016 from the beekeepers in northern peninsular Malaysia. The infestation destroyed thousands of stingless bee colonies within one week of attack, resulting in huge losses to the bee industry. This research was conducted to determine the species of pest infested the bees colonies in the northern peninsular Malaysia. Samples of larvae from the infested colonies were collected manually using entomological forceps from a stingless bees farm in the state of Kedah and the larvae were reared in the laboratory until adult stage. Identification of the larvae and adult pest confirmed that the invading species were the black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) that had not hitherto been regarded as a pest, but as a beneficial insect. The four major signs of attack by this pest on the stingless bee colonies are: 1) the nest entrance became smaller, 2) Honey in the honey pots developed bubbles 3) The presence of white larvae in the nest topping, and 4) honey spilled from the honey pots and flowed out from the nest topping. This is the first report on mass infestation of domesticated stingless bee colonies by the BSF. Therefore it is important to monitorthe spread and the potential threat poses by BSF on the stingless bee for sustainability of stingless bees itself and meliponiculture in Malaysia.

This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of proteic supplement on royal jelly production in honeybee colonies and its correlation with environmental variables. The treatments were: colonies that had received a diet formulated with 35% crude protein, colonies that had received a commercial supplement with 35% crude protein, and colonies that did not receive protein diet. There was no difference (p > 0.05) among the treatments for parameters of production. The average for each variable was: amount accepted larvae, 8.56 ± 6.76; acceptance percentage, 29.20 ± 22.03%; amount of royal jelly produced per colony, 1.83 ± 0.82 g; and amount of royal jelly produced per cup, 213.58 ± 108.36 mg. Rainfall did not affect (p > 0.05) royal jelly production. The selected models point to a negative correlation among larvae accepted with the maximum temperature and low relative humidity. Larvae acceptance and royal jelly production per cup had a positive correlation with the maximum relative humidity and negative correlation with the minimum relative humidity. It can be concluded that the addition of proteic supplement (35%) did not increase royal jelly production of Africanized honeybee colonies, and its use for this purpose was unprofitable.

This research was carried out to evaluate the nutritional quality of five supplements elaborated with linseed oil, palm oil, isolated soy protein and beer yeast. The study was performed about the life span of Africanized honey bees, confined into experimental cages maintained in incubator, at 32°C and relative humidity of 70% for 76 days. The supplements containing a mixture of polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids with linseed oil, palm oil and/or isolated soy protein and beer yeast were frequently used, resulting in a larger life span and smaller mortality rate than supplements elaborated only with sources of polyunsaturated or saturated fatty acids. Variations of fatty acid sources are expected and desirable in supplements to Africanized honey bees.

Varroa destructor is the main pest of the honey bee Apis mellifera, causing colony losses. We investigated the effect of temperature on the autumn abundance of V. destructor in bee colonies over 1991-2020 in Central Europe. We tested the hypothesis that temperature can affect autumn mite populations with different time-lags modulating the bee abundance and brood availability. We showed that raised spring (March-May) and autumn (October) temperatures reinforce autumn V. destructor infestation in the bee colonies. The critical temperature signals embrace periods of bee activity, i.e., just after the first cleansing flights and just before the last observed bee flights, but no direct effects of phenological changes on V. destructor abundance were found. These effects were potentially associated with increased bee reproduction in the specific periods of the year and not with the extended period of activity or accelerated spring onset. We found significant effects of autumn bee abundance, autumn capped brood abundance, and the number of colonies merged on autumn mite infestation. We also observed differences in V. destructor abundance between bees derived from different subspecies. We indicated that climatic effects, through influence on the bee abundance and brood availability, are one of the main drivers regulating V. destructor abundance.

In the present study, botanicals (11 nos.) were extracted using ethyl acetate solvent (mid-polar) and evaluated for their fumigant toxicity and repellent activity at 5% concentration against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L. in comparison with Acorus calamus.The results revealed that all the botanicals were effective against Sitophilus oryzae compared to untreated control. Mentha spicata 5% ethyl acetate extract exhibited 83.33% fumigant toxicity after 72 hours of treatment with maximum repellency rate of 76.11%. Ocimum sanctum displayed 80.00% fumigant toxicity with the repellency rate of 76.11% and grouped under Class IV. Vitex negundo 5% treatment caused 83.33% fumigant toxicity, and it was statistically on par with the M. spicata and the repellency rate was 72.78 against S. oryzae. Curcuma longa caused effective repellency rate of 75.56% and was grouped under Class IV. Hence, it is concluded that 5% ethyl acetate extract of M. spicata, V. negundo and O.sanctum were toxic against S. oryzae in stored maize.

Please click here http://singledrug.com/media/Temporal_Analysis_of_Aging_description.pdf to see it.

I plan to add the following:

I found Osh6 at a very high rank of lifespan extending genes.  That is why I want to take all the genes that are part of the same molecular function as Osh6 and run an expression similarity analysis on SPELL (Serial Pattern of Expression Levels Locator) (see spell.yeastgenome.org/). 

I hope to find genes of unknown functions that could be involved in the same molecular function.  If I find this, I'll validate with my time series plots and TFBS similarity analysis.  That way I hope to predict the function of an unknown gene in lipid metabolism.  I will also try the opposite approach, i.e. I'll take genes of unknown function and look for a group of similarly expressed genes, which belong to the same GO term.

I added 19 pages to the second chapter.  I was able to further improve the accuracy of my yeast lifespan predicting machine learning algorithm by adding more features about lipids.  My last draft had an average prediction error of +/-5 replications.  Now it is less than +/-3 replication for the 50th percentile of the replicative lifespan.  To my knowledge nobody has published any research on about using machine learning and feature selection to predict the replicative age.

If you have any more ideas how I could make my dissertation look better, I'd be very thankful for any new feasible ideas and inspirations.  I have mainly been using Python and R for all my analysis.

I found that ribosomal RNA and proteins are most closely follow the cell cycle and that if knocked out the yeast's lifespan can be extended significantly.  I want to use the different cyclical periodically recurring and highly fluctuating gene expression oscillation pattern to discover the functions of genes we have not yet discovered.  I am interested in this because a friend of mine showed me a cancer dataset that looked very similar.  Since cancer is very similar to the yeast in that it keeps constantly dividing and hence its age can be expressed in replication we could use the same guilt-by-association approach to infer the functions or at least the way their expression is controlled by TFs from genes with similar temporal expression patterns of genes with already known functions.

When analyzing the time series plots of the 62 yeast chaperons I discovered that their expression plot trajectories can easily be clustered into 7 expression patterns, which are consisted with the 7 classes of yeast chaperons.  If I had only taken the average centroid of all 62 chaperons I would have been misled because using this approach could not be applied to potentially discover more new currently still unknown chaperons because no unknown chaperon would have time series trajectories, which would highly correlate with the average chaperon expression pattern of all 7 classes since their in-group expression pattern is very homogeneous but between the 7 different chaperon classes the expression pattern is very different.

I intended to elucidate the different ways by which we age by a very similar clustering algorithm, which I have developed based on time series curves over three subsequent yeast cell cycle consisting of 36 mRNA measures each about 25 minutes apart; thus, allowing to measure very steep mRNA expression fluctuation periods by manifold within the only 90 minutes of the cell cycle because even very brief but rapid expression changes that last not much longer than 1/12th of a cell cycle, of which I found surprisingly many.

In this research, certain pesticides, i.e. bio-pesticides and synthetics pesticides proved to be toxic against honey bee foragers. Evaluation laboratory of the pesticides it cleared that both group of the insecticides showed highly toxicity to the workers. Both Vertimec®, Dipel2® and Achook® as a bio-insecticides and the two synthetics pesticides (Sparkle® and Diazinox®) gave the mean number 50 (100%) with each of the recommended, half and quarter doses after 24, 48 and 72 hr. On the other hand, Achook® and Dipel2x® (bio-pesticides) have the lowest toxicity among all treatments on the assigned insect. Moreover, the obtained results indicated those, for recommended, half and quarter doses, after 72 hr. the mean numbers of mortality were 50 (100%), 47 (94%) and 29.66 (59.33%) for Achook®, and 43.66 (87.33%), 46.33 (92.66%) and 35.33 (70.66%) for Dipel2x®. In addition, the amino acids were evaluated after 24 hr. in the heamolymph of all the treated individuals. The results cleared that all five pesticides have negative effect on the contents and amounts of amino acids.  15 amino acids were presented in untreated samples but the most of them disappeared in the recommended doses .for example Dipel2x® had the lowest effect among the other tested pesticides. The mean number of mortality started to be increased after long exposure time of 72 hr. Although Dipel2x® had a negative effect on bees but it was the only one among the used pesticides, which presented the amino acid Proline. This is considered the most important constituent of honey bee protein. This phenomenon was due to the low toxicity of Dipel2x®.
Keywords: Apis mellifera –foragers – treatments - bio-pesticide – synthetics- pesticides - toxicology – heamolymph - amino acids

Beginning in the 1970s, the United States Congress passed legislation aimed at curtailing and sometimes even blocking actions and chemicals that would have deleterious impacts on human health and the environment. Yet these products of industrialization continue to be developed and implemented with the effects clearly observable in numerous contemporary environmental crisis. A fact that shows that current legislation and the ways in which it has been judicially interpreted fail to actualize adequate policy for the protection of the environment and human well-being. Of these issues, it is the problems of excess pesticide use being experienced in the United States today that best expresses the need for the legal recognition of the symbiotic interdependency of all ecological systems. Of the environmental legislation that has been drafted and passed by the United States Congress, it is the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) that comes closest to realizing that the global, systemic, and temporally far-reaching consequences of modern technologies necessitates that science, specifically ecology, be the guiding principle for environmental regulation. The following pages will thus contain (i) the historical development of environmentalism in the United States, (ii) the primary ideas behind NEPA as expressed through its legislative history, (iii) some of the challenges NEPA has faced in Federal Courts, (iv) the ongoing crisis of the honeybee and human symbiosis, (v) an overview of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA),  (vi) some of the issues of utilizing cost/benefit analysis for understanding environmental impact, and (vii) a proposal to relocate the original intentions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 as the foundational philosophy for environmental legislation that its authors intended it to be.

Apiculture is currently considered as an important economic activity in Egypt. Most agricultural areas in Egypt are located close to Nile river as well as apicultural activities. Recently, various desert areas have been widely reclaimed and inhabited. In this study, the land suitability to apiculture in Egypt, either cultivated or desert areas, was investigated using geographical information system (GIS), under current and future conditions (2070). Two maps were extracted from the spatial analysis; one map for current conditions and the second one for future conditions. The study shows that most Egypt is suitable for apiculture but the more suitable areas are restricted to specific
locations. In the future, land suitability was found to be impacted by future conditions, mainly thermal stress. Upper Egypt will be greatly impacted than the middle or north Egypt. Apiaries relocation is advisable especially at upper Egypt when necessary during 2070. It could be expected that apiculture could be practiced widely throughout Egypt currently and in the future as well, and in reclaimed lands. The spatial analysis was done using the major factors that could impact beekeeping; namely, maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, slope, land type, and distance from plants.

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of the honeybee pollination in the production and quality of soybean seeds (Glycine max L. Merril). Seed production was higher (P=0.0001) in covered areas with honeybee colonies (50.64%) and uncovered areas (57.73%) than in covered areas without honeybee colonies. It could be concluded that honeybees were responsible for 95.5% of the pollination accomplished by insects. The pod number in covered treatment with honeybees was 61.38% higher (P=0.0002) than in the covered treatment without honeybees. The average weight of 100 seeds was larger (P=0.0001) in the area covered without honeybees, and reached 17.8 g. The medium content of crude protein in grains was 36.7% and the average oil content was 20.2%. The germination test did not show differences (P>0.05) among the seeds in different treatments. It was concluded that the honeybee pollination in the soybean increased the seeds production.

This research was carried out to evaluate the growing of Africanized honeybee colonies from July 1999 to June 2000, as for the percentages of occupation area with brood, food, occupied total area, to correlate them with environmental variables and to determine the tenor of crude protein in the pollen stocked in the combs by workers. Five colonies were mapped monthly, which were made the counting of the occupied area with brood, food, occupied total area and also the pollen was collected and submitted to the bromatological analysis to determine the tenor of crude protein. The medium percentages of occupation with brood (egg-larvae plus workers pupa and drones), with food (honey and pollen) and of the occupied total area they were not also different among the treatments (p>0.05). The Africanized honeybee colonies reduced their population with low external temperatures (winter) and also with excess of relative humidity of the air (summer). The medium tenor of crude protein in the pollen during the year was 24.51%, and this value is acceptable for a good development of the colonies.

For apicultural practice the productive traits of bee colonies are of great significance, since it is related to different geographical bee breeds. For the purpose of preservation of existing populations and natural diversity of honey bee and for the purpose of their further selection, researches upon the productive features of certain individual populations of choice at the territory of Republic of Serbia. During three years of research productive traits of six selected lines of honey bee from three different localities in Serbia (East, West and South Serbia) were studied. Through the survey of productive traits we have come to conclusion that there are significant variations among separate lines, which can be used to improve bee breeding program of the domestic honey bee and pick up the best lines for next generations.

This work was directed to study the inhibitory effects of honey collected from different geographical regions of District Khairpur against certain pathogenic bacteria. It has been observed that the valuable use of honey in the management of bacterial infection is when it can be applied directly to the bacteria without dilution. There are few published reports on the physicochemical and antibacterial characteristics of honey from A. florea, the dwarf honeybee native to Pakistan. Current study explores the variation in physicochemical properties and the level of antimicrobial potential of honey samples collected from wild bee combs of A. florea shows potential genetic diversity from District Khairpur. The acacia honey found effective to stop the growth of isolates except Proteus and Shigella. The antibacterial action of honey was attained in high concentrations of honey both in well diffusion as well as disc diffusion methods.

The Meliponini honey is one type of stingless bee honey. Although honey has been widely used as a natural remedy, understanding on how storage affect the microbiological quality and pH in stingless honey is still scarce. This study was carried out to determine the microbial quality of honey produced by stingless bees, Heterotrigona itama and Geniotrigona thoracica during ambient storage for 6 weeks. The changes in microbiological analysis was determined for Aerobic Plate Count (APC), yeast count and Bacillus count. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated using three types of media, namely, MRS agar, MRS agar with 0.8% CaCO 3 and MRS agar with 1% glucose. Detection of Clostridium was done using anaerobic egg-yolk agar and cook meat medium. Results showed that Aerobic Plate Count ranged between 10 2 to 10 5 CFU/g for both samples. However, yeast count showed the range between 10 2 to 10 6 CFU/g, which higher than APC. Both honey samples showed low in Bacillus count. The LAB counts on three media were significantly higher for the first month of storage, then decreased gradually after fifth week. Storage of honey had reduced the pH in both honey samples to pH 2. Clostridium was not detected in all samples.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of supplements with isolated soy protein,
brewer’s yeast, a mixture of isolated soy protein with brewer’s yeast, linseed oil, palm oil and mixture of linseed
oil with palm oil in the production of royal jelly by Africanized honeybee colonies. Total royal jelly production
was higher (p < 0.05) in colonies fed with isolated soy protein and brewer’s yeast (11.68 g colony-1), followed by
linseed oil and palm oil (11.30 g colony-1) and palm oil (9.61 g colony-1), being higher than control I (6.35 g
colony-1), and II (6.95 g colony-1). The results demonstrated that the supplementation with a mixture of linseed
oil plus palm oil, and isolated soy protein plus brewer’s yeast is recommended to increase the royal jelly
production on a commercial scale. Besides becoming an important tool for beekeepers by increasing the
production, it also contributes to improve the acceptance rate of grafted larvae.

This study was carried out to evaluate the financial viability of five supplements made with different sources of oil and protein, to be given to Africanized honeybees for royal jelly production. The study verified whether the investments with colony supplementation give financial returns to beekeepers, increasing profits for the diversification of bee products. In order to evaluate the five supplements, two experimental assays were performed. In each, 20 colonies were distributed randomly in four treatments, with 15 replications per colony. In assay I, the treatments were: linseed oil plus palm oil supplement, linseed oil, palm oil, and control without supplementation. In assay II, isolated soy protein plus brewer’s yeast, isolated soy protein, brewer’s yeast, and control without supplementation were evaluated. The following production financial indicators were determined: net operating income, total cost, profit and benefit-cost ratio. Supplements made with mixtures of linseed oil plus palm oil and isolated soy protein plus beer yeast showed ratios between the obtained profit and the calculated values for indirect production costs of 2.58 and 2.50, respectively, differing from the control (p < 0.05), which indicates it is economically viable to supplement Africanized honey bees in royal jelly production when compared to other treatments and control without supplementation.

The microbial communities associated with the alimentary tract of honey bees are very important as they help with food digestion, provide essential nutrients, protect the host from pathogens, detoxify harmful molecules, and increase host immunity. In this study, the structural diversity of the gut microbial communities of native honey bees, Apis mellifera jemenitica from two different geographical regions (Riyadh and Al-Baha) of Saudi Arabia was analyzed by culture-dependent methods and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing. In this study, 100 bacterial isolates were cultivated and phylogenetic analyses grouped them into three phyla: Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria. Bacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria were the most dominant (17 species), followed by Firmicutes (13 species) and Actinobacteria (4 species). Some of the identified bacteria (Citrobacter sp., Providencia vermicola, Exiguobacterium acetylicum, and Planomicrobium okeanokoites) were reported for the first time in the genus Apis, while others identified bacteria belonged to the genera Proteus, Enterobacter, Bacillus, Morganella, Lactobacillus, and Fructobacillus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the gut microbiota of the local honey bees in Saudi Arabia. Ó 2017 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Dua hari menjelang perayaan hari kemerdekaan Indonesia. Sejak dari sebelum negara ini merdeka, para petani sudah menjadi tulang punggung bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia. Apa arti kemerdekaan bagi para petani itu sendiri? Petani madu, di daerah sekitar Ciheras, tak pernah menyerah memanjat pohon bermeter-meter untuk mengumpulkan tetesan demi tetesan dari beragam sarang lebah. Teriknya matahari di siang hari ataupun gelapnya malam tanpa cahaya tidak pernah menjadi halangan bagi mereka. Resiko mati jatuh dari ketinggian mereka telan, bukan karena mereka tidak punya pilihan, tetapi karena mereka ingin. Mereka senang ketika mengetahui madu yang mereka tuai sudah dikenal di berbagai pulau di Indonesia. Dalam rangka menyambut 72 tahun kemerdekaan Indonesia, kami ingin memberikan nilai lebih atas kerja keras para petani madu di Ciheras. Maka dari itu, secara resmi kami umumkan, mulai tanggal 17 Agustus 2017, harga madu naik menjadi sebagai berikut: 220 ml: Rp70.000 500 ml: Rp140.000 1.000 ml: Rp275.000 Mari bersama-sama, kita memberikan apresiasi bagi para petani yang ada di sekitar kita.

Surveys on coccinellid predators associated with solenopsis mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, infesting cotton and other host plants in and around Hisar, Haryana revealed that six species of coccinellids i.e. Scymnus coccivora Ayyar, Nephus regularis Sicard, Brumoides suturalis Fabricius, Hippodamia variegata Goeze, Cheilomenes sexmaculata Fabricius and Coccinella septempunctata L. were associated with P. solenopsis. 246 mealybug, Phenacoccus solani Ferris (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), its parasitoid and predator complex, reproductive potential and utilization as laboratory prey for rearing the ladybird and green lacewing predators. J. ent. Res., 31(3):