First report of Nosema ceranae in colonies of

In past years, severe losses of bee colonies were observed during hibernation in many bee yards in Austria.

Also many colonies were very weak in spring. Problems were reported from all 9 federal provinces of Austria, but not every beekeeper was affected. Often only one apiary - out of several others of the same beekeeper – showed high colony mortalities, weak colonies or low colony performance in spring.

Materials and methods

Honey bee samples from Austria were inspected microscopically for Nosema sp.-spores. Eight positive samples from different apiaries were selected and analysed for N. apis and N. ceranae using protocols of Higes et al. (2006, 2007).

Results

In 4 out of the 8 samples analyzed up to now, the presence of N. ceranae was detected (Fig. 5). Positive samples came from 3 different apiaries in 2 provinces of Austria. One sample was positively tested for N. apis.