• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2012

This study was examined the characteristics on the pollinating activities of Apis mellifera, Bombus ignitus and B. terrestris as pollinators on the watermelon flowers(Citrullus vulgaris Schrad), and the effects of the pollination by pollinators compared to the artificial pollination in the watermelon green houses in Nonsan City on summer season in 2005. As a result, B. ignitus and B. terrestris could not be used for summer season, because the bumblebees were not pollinated effectively indeed even two days after hives were released at watermelon green houses during the summer cultivating period. It could not be controlled a poor watermelon house conditions; high temperature and low humidity on summer season which were the bad environment for pollinating activities of bumblebees. But this study was showed that A. mellifera could be used comparatively good pollinator instead of artificial pollination in spite of the bad environment for bee within the watermelon green houses on summer season.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.106-106
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.45-45
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.73-73
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• 2004

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.124-130
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• 2013

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate various greenhouse crops. Among the different bumblebee species, Bombus ignitus is indigenous to Korea, China, Japan and Russia. B. ignitus undergoes one generation per year, and artificial hibernation is essential for year-round rearing of the bumblebee. Keeping the queens under low-temperature conditions for several months is an effective method for terminating their diapause and promoting colony development. In the present study, we investigated how cold temperature affects the artificial hibernation of B. ignitus queens. Under chilling temperatures of $-2.5^{\circ}C$, $0^{\circ}C$, $2.5^{\circ}C$ and $5^{\circ}C$ with constant humidity >80%, the queens stored at $2.5^{\circ}C$ exhibited the highest survival rates, which were 74.0% at one month, 67.0% at two months, 60.0% at three months, 46.0% at 4 months, 33.0% at 5 months and 24.0% at 6 months. Lower survival rates were observed at $0^{\circ}C$, $5^{\circ}C$, $7.5^{\circ}C$ and $12.5^{\circ}C$. At $2.5^{\circ}C$ the colony developmental characteristics after diapause were 1.2- to 1.5-fold greater than those when queens were stored at $5^{\circ}C$. Thus, $2.5^{\circ}C$ and 70% R.H. were the most favorable chilling temperature and humidity conditions for terminating the diapause of B. ignitus queens.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2009

The large bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, indigenous to Europe and used extensively for high-value crop pollination, has been artificially introduced in several parts of the world. Here we show the interspecific hybridization between bumblebee species, B. terrestris and B. ignitus, under laboratory conditions. The mating and oviposition percentages of the interspecific hybridization of a B. terrestris queen with a B. ignitus male were higher than those of the intraspecific mating of B. ignitus. Furthermore, the competitive copulation experiment indicated that the mating of B. ignitus males with B. terrestris queens was 1.8-fold more frequent than with B. ignitus queens. The interspecific hybridization of a B. ignitus queen with a B. terrestris male produced either B. ignitus workers or the B. ignitus male phenotype, and the hybridization of a B. terrestris queen with a B. ignitus male produced B. terrestris males. Genetic tests using a portion of the mitochondrial COI gene for the parent and hybrid phenotypes indicated that mitochondrial DNA in the interspecific hybridization was maternally inherited. Our results indicated that interspecific hybridization occurred between B. ignitus and B. terrestris, which suggests that the hybridization will have a negative impact of competition and genetic pollution of native bumblebees.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2005

We investigated oviposition and colony development of Bombus ignitus and B. terrestris depending on different pollen. In five kinds of pollen blend, the colony development in fresh-freezing pollen blend produced in Korea (Korea-FFP) was the best performance, although egg-laying characteristics is lower than that of pollen blend for oviposition imported from Korppert company (Kopport-FOP). The Kopport-FOP proved that it was suitable to use for oviposition of bumblebees. The Korea-FFDP, freezing dried-fresh pollen blend produced in Korea, is lower rather than the Korea-FDP although it is similar to the KopportFOP in colony development. It is not efficient to use commercial pollen for bumblebee because it is expensive in cost. The dried pollen blend for honeybee feeding imported from China (China-DP) was not suitable for rearing of bumblebee because it did not form colony although the worker emerged. In types of pollen, the oviposition and colony development of B. ignitus were not affected by the fresh-freezing pollen and dried-freezing pollen. This result also indicated that dried pollen, dried in the shade for 5 - 6 days, is possible to use as commercial pollen for bumblebee reproduction.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2010

Bumblebees are widely used to pollinate crops in greenhouses and fields. Here, we investigated whether different wake-up treatments during a short period of 1~3 days just before indoor rearing has any effects on oviposition and colony development of $CO_2$-treated Bombus ignitus queens and artificially hibernated B. terrestris queens The wake-up regimes were defined as 16L for 1 day (16L-1), 16 L per day for 3 days (16L-3), 24L for 1 day (24L-1), or 24D for 1 day (24D-1). Among these wake-up treatments, the oviposition rate and preoviposition period of B. ignitus queens reared at 24L-1 were 16.7~25.1% higher and 1.0~3.5 days shorter than other wake-up treatments. B. terrestris queens reared at 24L-1 also showed the best results for egg-laying characteristics, which were 8.9~18.8% higher for oviposition and 0.6~3.5 days shorter for preovipostion period than other wake-up treatments. Furthermore, B. terrestris queens reared at 24L-1 were 17.5% and 13.8% higher in rate of colony foundation and queen production, respectively, than other wake-up treatments. These results show that the most favorable wake-up treatment just before rearing for egg-laying and colony developmental characteristics of B. ignitus and B. terrestris queens was 24L-1. Overall, our findings indicate that a wake-up treatment just before rearing was effective for colony initiation and colony development of bumblebee queens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.123-125
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• 2003

We provide a molecular study intending to derive an estimate of the relationships within the genus Bombus, 10 species which span 6 subgenera common collected from several regions of Korea and B. terrestris imported from several foreign countries for pollination using a portion of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA. (omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.50-50
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• 2004