Geographical distribution of the giant honey bee Apis laboriosa Smith, 1871 (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Worldwide pollinator declines have dramatically increased our need to survey and monitor pollinator distributions and abundances. The giant honey bee, Apis laboriosa, is one of the important pollinators at higher altitudes of the Himalayas. This species has a restricted distribution along the Himalayas and neighbouring mountain ranges of Asia. Previous assessments of its distribution, published more than 20 years ago, were based on museum specimens. Since then, 244 additional localities have been revealed through field trips by the authors, publications, and websites. We present a revised distribution for A. laboriosa that better defines its range and extends it eastward to the mountains of northern Vietnam, southward along the Arakan Mountains to west-central Myanmar, into the Shillong Hills of Meghalaya, India, and northwestward in Uttarakhand, India. This species is generally found at elevations between 1000-3000 m a.s.l.. In northeastern India A. laboriosa colonies occur during summer at sites as low as 850 m a.s.l. and some lower elevation colonies maintain their nests throughout the winter. Finally, we report three regions in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and nine locations in northern Vietnam, where we observed workers of A. laboriosa and A. dorsata foraging sympatrically; their co-occurrence supports the species status of Apis laboriosa

Benefits and Risks of Consuming Edible Insects

Insect eating has been reported for a long time, and they are consumed in raw and processed forms by several cultures around the world, especially in developing countries, where they are typically regarded as a delicacy in addition to providing nutrients, farming, processing, and consumption of edible insects have recently sparked a lot of research interest, mostly in an effort to mitigate food insecurity and improve nutrition in many developing nations. Edible insects have been demonstrated to improve the nutritional content of foods by providing micro- and macronutrient levels that are comparable to, if not higher than, those found in animal-derived foods. Even with all of these advantages, promoting edible insect cultivation and consumption in developed and developing countries faces a number of hurdles. In many Western countries, however, consumer acceptance of insects as a food source remains a major challenge. The problem of food safety is at the top of the list of these challenges, with many western consumers concerned about the microbiological and chemical health risks that edible insects or edible insect-derived foods may provide. According to the available research, there is a clear need to strike a balance between the nutritional benefits of edible insects and its food safety concerns

Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiles of Himalayan Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Bombus Latreille) are Species-Specific and Show Elevational Variation

Bumble bees are important pollinators in natural environments and agricultural farmlands, and they are in particular adapted to harsh environments like high mountain habitats. In these environments, animals are exposed to low temperature and face the risk of desiccation. The Eastern Himalayas are one of the recognized biodiversity hotspots worldwide. The area covers subtropical rainforest with warm temperature and high precipitation as well as high mountain ranges with peaks reaching up to 7,000 m, shaping a diverse floral and faunal community at the different elevational zones. To identify possible adaptation strategies, we investigated the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of four bumble bee species occurring at different elevational ranges in Arunachal Pradesh, the northeastern most state in India. At 17 locations along an elevational gradient, we collected workers of two species from lower elevations (B. albopleuralis and B. breviceps; ~ 100 m − 3,000 m asl) and two species from higher elevations (B. prshewalskyi and B. mirus; ~ 2,800 m − 4,500 m asl). The CHC profiles of all four species showed a significant degree of variation in the composition of hydrocarbons, indicating species specificity. We also found clear correlation with elevation. The weighted mean chain length of the hydrocarbons significantly differed between the low and high elevation species, and the proportion of saturated hydrocarbons in CHC profiles significantly increased with the elevational range of the bumble bee species. Our results indicate that bumble bees living at high elevations reduce the risk of water loss by adapting their CHC composition on their cuticle, a phenomenon that has also been found in other insects like ants and fruit flies