/library/oar/handle/123456789/417 2025-11-04T02:49:25Z 2025-11-04T02:49:25Z Uzunov, Aleksandar Galea, Thomas Chen, Chao Cilia, Giovanni Costa, Cecilia Mifsud, David /library/oar/handle/123456789/140782 2025-11-03T08:13:18Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Apis florea in Europe : first report of the dwarf honey bee in Malta Authors: Uzunov, Aleksandar; Galea, Thomas; Chen, Chao; Cilia, Giovanni; Costa, Cecilia; Mifsud, David Abstract: The Red dwarf honey bee (Apis florea), is a single-comb open-nesting member of the genus Apis with a natural distribution area stretching from the Indomalayan realm on the east to the Persian Gulf on the west. However, it is reportedly colonising new territories mainly due to anthropogenic activities. Nowadays it can be found from Taiwan on the east, to Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula and North-eastern Africa on the west. Here we present the first scientific record of a fully established colony of A. florea in Europe. The colony was found on Malta, a crossway of naval routes in the Mediterranean Sea. We documented the incident with photos, collected samples of workers and drones and sequenced the mtDNA COI gene to confirm assignment to A. florea. Also, we alert the competent authorities and the beekeeping community to be vigilant and ready to undertake effective eradication measures. In the paper, we discuss the risks and the potential consequences associated with the invasion of A. florea in Europe.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z Donthu, Ravikiran Marcelino, Jose A. P. Giordano, Rosanna Tao, Yudong Weber, Everett Avalos, Arian Band, Mark Akraiko, Tatsiana Chen, Shu‑Ching Reyes, Maria P. Hao, Haiping Ortiz‑Alvarado, Yarira A. Cuff, Charles Pérez Claudio, Eddie Soto‑Adames, Felipe Smith‑Pardo, Allan H. Meikle, William G. Evans, Jay D. Giray, Tugrul Abdelkader, Faten B. Allsopp, Mike Ball, Daniel Morgado, Susana B. Barjadze, Shalva Correa‑Benitez, Adriana Chakir, Amina Báez, David R. Chavez, Nabor H. M. Dalmon, Anne Bugeja Douglas, Adrian Fraccica, Carmen Fernández‑Marín, Hermógenes Galindo‑Cardona, Alberto Guzman‑Novoa, Ernesto Horsburgh, Robert Kence, Meral Kilonzo, Joseph Kükrer, Mert Le Conte, Yves Mazzeo, Gaetana Mota, Fernando Muli, Elliud Oskay, Devrim Ruiz‑Martínez, José A. Oliveri, Eugenia Pichkhaia, Igor Romane, Abderrahmane Sanchez, Cesar Guillen Sikombwa, Evans Satta, Alberto Scannapieco, Alejandra A. Stanford, Brandi Soroker, Victoria Velarde, Rodrigo A. Vercelli, Monica Huang, Zachary /library/oar/handle/123456789/140781 2025-11-03T07:28:55Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: HBeeID : a molecular tool that identifies honey bee subspecies from different geographic populations Authors: Donthu, Ravikiran; Marcelino, Jose A. P.; Giordano, Rosanna; Tao, Yudong; Weber, Everett; Avalos, Arian; Band, Mark; Akraiko, Tatsiana; Chen, Shu‑Ching; Reyes, Maria P.; Hao, Haiping; Ortiz‑Alvarado, Yarira; A. Cuff, Charles; Pérez Claudio, Eddie; Soto‑Adames, Felipe; Smith‑Pardo, Allan H.; Meikle, William G.; Evans, Jay D.; Giray, Tugrul; Abdelkader, Faten B.; Allsopp, Mike; Ball, Daniel; Morgado, Susana B.; Barjadze, Shalva; Correa‑Benitez, Adriana; Chakir, Amina; Báez, David R.; Chavez, Nabor H. M.; Dalmon, Anne; Bugeja Douglas, Adrian; Fraccica, Carmen; Fernández‑Marín, Hermógenes; Galindo‑Cardona, Alberto; Guzman‑Novoa, Ernesto; Horsburgh, Robert; Kence, Meral; Kilonzo, Joseph; Kükrer, Mert; Le Conte, Yves; Mazzeo, Gaetana; Mota, Fernando; Muli, Elliud; Oskay, Devrim; Ruiz‑Martínez, José A.; Oliveri, Eugenia; Pichkhaia, Igor; Romane, Abderrahmane; Sanchez, Cesar Guillen; Sikombwa, Evans; Satta, Alberto; Scannapieco, Alejandra A.; Stanford, Brandi; Soroker, Victoria; Velarde, Rodrigo A.; Vercelli, Monica; Huang, Zachary Abstract: Background: Honey bees are the principal commercial pollinators. Along with other arthropods, they are increasingly under threat from anthropogenic factors such as the incursion of invasive honey bee subspecies, pathogens and parasites. Better tools are needed to identify bee subspecies. Genomic data for economic and ecologically important organisms is increasing, but in its basic form its practical application to address ecological problems is limited. Results: We introduce HBeeID a means to identify honey bees. The tool utilizes a knowledge-based network and diagnostic SNPs identified by discriminant analysis of principle components and hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Tests of HBeeID showed that it identifies African, Americas-Africanized, Asian, and European honey bees with a high degree of certainty even when samples lack the full 272 SNPs of HBeeID. Its prediction capacity decreases with highly admixed samples. Conclusion: HBeeID is a high-resolution genomic, SNP based tool, that can be used to identify honey bees and screen species that are invasive. Its flexible design allows for future improvements via sample data additions from other localities.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z Lapeva-Gjonova, Albena Csősz, Sándor Mifsud, David /library/oar/handle/123456789/139213 2025-09-24T09:41:39Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Further records of social parasitic ants in Europe and review of the Bulgarian species Authors: Lapeva-Gjonova, Albena; Csősz, Sándor; Mifsud, David Abstract: Social parasitic ants exploit the colonies of other ant species, either permanently or temporarily. The permanent parasites are amongst the rarest species of ants, although their hosts may be very common. Due to their rarity and often restricted distribution range, most of them are listed as vulnerable. Filling in the gaps in geographical and host ranges will advance our understanding of the social parasitic lifestyle's origin and evolution.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/139118 2025-09-19T10:20:22Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The fifth generation regional climate modeling system, RegCM5 : the first convection-permitting European wide simulation and validation over the CORDEX-CORE domains Abstract: The Regional Climate Modeling system (RegCM) has undergone a significant evolution over the years, leading for example to the widely used versions RegCM4 and RegCM4-NH. In response to the demand for higher resolution, a new version of the system has been developed, RegCM5, incorporating the non-hydrostatic dynamical core of the MOLOCH weather prediction model. In this paper we assess the RegCM5's performance for 9 CORDEX-CORE domains,including a pan-European domain at convection-permitting resolution. We fi nd temperature biases generally in the range of -2 to 2 degrees Celsius, with a larger positive bias in the northernmost regions of North America and Asia during winter, linked to cloud water overestimation.There are cold biases over Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau, possibly due to sparse station coverage. The model exhibits a prevailing cold bias in maximum temperature and warm bias in minimum temperature, associated with a systematic overestimation of lower-level cloud fraction, especially in winter. Taylor diagrams indicate a high spatial temperature pattern correlation with ERA5 and CRUdata, except in South America and the Caribbean region. The precipitation evaluation shows an overestimation in South America, East Asia, and Africa. RegCM5 improves the daily precipitation distribution compared to RegCM4, particularly at high intensities. The analysis of wind fields confirms the model's ability to simulate monsoon circulations. The assessment of tropical cyclone tracks highlights a strong sensitivity to the tracking algorithms, thus necessitating a careful model interpretation. Over the European region, the convection permitting simulations especially improve the diurnal cycle of precipitation and the hourly precipitation intensities.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z