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• The effects of spinosad insecticide to adults of Apis mellifera, Megachile rotundata and Nomia melanderi (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

  93-97.

  D. F. Mayer

  G. Kovács

  B. L. Brett

  B. L. Bisabri

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  The toxicity of spinosad to adult female bees tended to be least to the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) (LD₅₀ = 0.078 pg/bee), intermediate to the alkali bee (Nomia melanderi) (0.065 pg/bee), and greatest to the alfalfa leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata (F.)) (0.058 pg/bee), both in topical drop tests and in tests involving spinosad residues on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) foliage. For the calculated LD₅₀ pg/g, the honey bee (LD₅₀ = 0.612 pg/g) was the most susceptible followed by the alkali bee (0.773 pg/g) and the leafcutter bee (1.908 pg/g). The honey bee oral LD50 was 0.063 pg/bee and the calculated LD₅₀ 0.492 pg/g. Adding an adjuvant to spinosad sprays did not change the toxicity of spinosad to bees in residue bioassay studies. Spinosad at as high as 500 ppm in feeders containing a sucrose/honey syrup caused no significant reduction in honey bee visitation or total syrup consumed.