Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #416470
Research Project: Managing Honey Bees Against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: The recent revision of the genera Nosema and Vairimorpha (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) was flawed and misleads bee scientific community

Author
item BARTOLOME, CAROLINA - University Of Santiago
item HIGES, MARIANO - Chiang Mai University
item MARTIN HERNANDEZ, RAQUEL - Chiang Mai University
item Chen, Yanping
item Evans, Jay
item HUANG, QIANG - Jiangxi Agricultural University

Submitted to: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2024
Publication Date: 9/20/2024
Citation: Bartolome, C., Higes, M., Martin Hernandez, R., Chen, Y., Evans, J.D., Huang, Q. 2024. The recent revision of the genera Nosema and Vairimorpha (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) was flawed and misleads bee scientific community. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 206. Article 108146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2024.108146.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2024.108146

Interpretive Summary: Nosema disease , caused by a gut parasite in the group Micropsporidia, is a longstanding problem for managed honey bees. Two species are critical for honey bee health worldwide. A recent paper reclassified these organisms nto the genus Vairimorpha, rather than the longstanding genus Nosema. This has led to great confusion by scientists, beekeepers, and regulators. Here we argue on scientific grounds that this reclassification was hasty and incorrect. We present evidence that the genus Nosema should be used for the honey bee p[rasites Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae.

Technical Abstract: The genus Vairimorpha was proposed for several species of Nosema in 1976 (Pilley, 1976), almost 70 years after Nosema apis Zander (Zander, 1909). Tokarev and colleagues proposed the redefinition of the genera Nosema and Vairimorpha based on the phylogenetic analysis of two genetic markers (SSU rRNA and RPB1) in 17 microsporidian species (Tokarev et al., 2020). However, several issues should invalidate this new classification (special caution is required to redefine genera, particularly when the redefinition involves 17 species simultaneously).