Recent efforts to evaluate the contribution of neonicotinoid insecticides to worldwide pollinator declines have focused on honey bees and the chronic levels of exposure experienced when foraging on crops grown from neonicotinoid-treated seeds.

The worldwide use of neonicotinoid pesticides has caused concern on account of their involvement in the decline of bee populations, which are key pollinators in most ecosystems.

Bacteria and archaea synthesize acetylcholine (ACh). Thus it can be postulated that ACh was created by nature roughly 3 billion years ago.

Managed, feral and wild populations of European honey bee subspecies, Apis mellifera, are currently facing severe colony losses globally.

The dramatic depopulation of honey bee colonies has not yet been associated to a single culprit, although many potential contributing factors have been identified.

The effects on individual honey bees will have a direct impact on the colony by leading to losses in the adult population.

The microsporidium Nosema neumanni n. sp., a new parasite of the honeybee Apis mellifera is described based on its ultra-structural and molecular characteristics. Structures resembling microsporidian spores were found by microscopic examination of honeybees from Uganda.

A recently completed trial on a bee sting vaccine containing a novel adjuvantcalled Advax to increase its efficacy has raised hopes that severe allergicreactions, sometimes fatal, to bee venom in allergic people could be a thing of the past.

Here we discuss how honey bees decrease the risk of disease outbreaks by a combination of behaviors (social immunity) and individual immune function.