Efeito letal de flupiradifurona sobre Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: apidae) em condições de laboratório.

Abstract

Honey bee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are the main pollinators of plants cultivated worldwide. However, the abusive use of phytosanitary products, with emphasis on insecticides, has caused a great decline in the population of these pollinators in several agricultural areas. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the lethal effect of the insecticide flupyradifurone on adult workers of A. mellifera, through three modes of exposure: direct spraying on bees, ingestion of contaminated food and contact of bees with the insecticide residues. The experiment was developed at the Laboratory Entomology of the Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia Agroalimentar (CCTA) at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG), Brazil. Adult workers of A. mellifera from hives belonging to the apiary of CCTA / UFCG were used to carry out the work. The insecticide flupyradifurone was evaluated at the minimum, intermediate and maximum doses recommended by the manufacturer. Distilled water was used for absolute control and the insecticide Tiametoxam for positive control. The lethal effect of the insecticide was evaluated through three forms of exposure: via direct spraying, via ingestion of contaminated diet and via contact of the bees with the treated surface. After application of the treatments, the mortality and behavior of the bees (prostration, tremors, paralysis) at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 hours after onset were evaluated exposure to the insecticide. The insecticide flupyradifurone, via direct spraying on A. mellifera, caused the mortality of 96.8%, 96.9% and 98.9% of insects in the minimum, intermediate and maximum doses recommended by the manufacturer. As for the mortality of bees in the bioassay of ingestion of contaminated diet, a low percentage of mortality was observed, with values of 7.2%, 7.3% and 8.6% for the minimum, intermediate and maximum doses, respectively. Via residual contact of the bees with the insecticide, flupyradifurone caused mortality of 68.7%, 69.5% and 71.2% in the bees for the minimum, intermediate and maximum doses, respectively. flupyradifurone was responsible for motor disorders (tremors, prostration, paralysis) in bees in all modes of exposure and doses evaluated. Regardless of the dose, flupyradifurone was highly toxic to adult workers of the A. mellifera bee via direct spraying and contact with product residues. flupyradifurone was not very toxic to adult workers of A. mellifera via the supply of a diet contaminated by the insecticide.