Deformed wing virus (DMV), a disease that affects commercial honeybees, can also infect wild bumblebees and shorten their life span, researchers report today (February 19) in Nature. Given the overlapping geographical distribution of the disease among honeybees and bumblebees in the U.K., the authors conclude that the virus is likely spilling over from commercial hives into wild populations.
Bumblebee worker foraging on a flower MATTHIAS A. FURST“The results show that managed honeybee populations, with their high density of pathogens, might pose a threat to wild pollinators,” said Elke Genersch, a researcher at the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany, who was not involved in the study.
While the results support the idea that disease transmission from honeybees might contribute to bumblebee population declines, the study was not definitive.
DMV is known to cause malformations in honeybees and reduce their ...
