Imidacloprid, one of the most commonly used insecticides, is highly toxic to honeybees and other beneficial insects. Imidacloprid is a chloronicotinyl insecticide, which has a highly specific affinity to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the honeybee’s nervous system. So it may interfere with dance behavior and memory formation. We found the waggle dances were modulated in honeybees fed sucrose water containing imidacloprid (pesticide group) compared to those fed normal sucrose water (control group). In our data, dancers of the pesticide group significantly increased the variance of divergence angle and the return phases in waggle dances than the control group. And the dance followers in pesticide group significantly increased the variance of crop content than the control group. Furthermore, four learning and memory related genes were significantly regulated at the gene expression levels between pesticide and control group. Our data revealed that the sub-lethal dose of imidacloprid impaired the honeybees’ learning and memory and resulted in cognitive disorder. The dancers may adjust their recruitment behavior leading to the observed reduced number of followers. We conclude that modulation of in-hive communication serves to protect the colony from foraging toxic food.

吡虫啉是最常用的杀虫剂之一，对蜜蜂和其他有益昆虫具有高毒性。吡虫啉是一种氯烟碱杀虫剂，对蜜蜂神经系统中的烟碱乙酰胆碱受体（nAChRs）具有高度特异性的亲和力。因此，它可能会干扰舞蹈行为和记忆形成。我们发现，与喂食正常蔗糖水的蜜蜂（对照组）相比，喂食含吡虫啉的蔗糖水的蜜蜂（农药组）中的摇摆舞受到调节。在我们的数据中，与对照组相比，农药组的舞者大大提高了摇摆舞的发散角和返回相位的方差。农药组的舞蹈追随者比对照组明显增加了农作物含量的变化。此外，在农药和对照组之间，四个学习和记忆相关基因在基因表达水平上受到显着调节。我们的数据表明，吡虫啉亚致死剂量损害了蜜蜂的学习和记忆能力，并导致了认知障碍。舞者可以调整其招募行为，从而导致观察到的追随者数量减少。我们得出的结论是，蜂箱内通讯的调节有助于保护菌落免受有毒食物的觅食。