Honey bees, Apis mellifera, actively collect a range of materials including pollen and fungal spores. However, the interaction between honey bees and fungal spores is largely unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the corbicular contents of workers foraging on zucchini leaves severely affected by powdery mildew. The dimensions (length and width) of conidia removed from the corbiculae of honey bee workers and from the zucchini leaves were similar and conidia matched the description of Podosphaera xanthii, the causal agent of powdery mildew of cucurbits. Our findings that corbicular loads comprised only conidia of P. xanthii confirm that honey bees exhibited constancy, just as they almost always forage on a single species of flower per foraging trip, and highlight the importance of understanding the behaviour of honey bee workers in regards to the collection of fungal spores.

中文翻译：

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蜜蜂工作者收集黄豆荚膜分生孢子

蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）积极收集一系列材料，包括花粉和真菌孢子。然而，蜜蜂和真菌孢子之间的相互作用在很大程度上尚未得到探索。因此，本研究旨在评估在受白粉病严重影响的西葫芦叶子上觅食的工人的球茎含量。从蜜蜂工蜂的球茎和西葫芦叶中取出的分生孢子的尺寸（长度和宽度）相似，分生孢子与 Podosphaera xanthii 的描述相符，后者是葫芦科白粉病的病原体。我们的研究结果表明，球状负载仅包含 P. xanthii 的分生孢子，这证实了蜜蜂表现出稳定性，就像它们每次觅食旅行几乎总是在单一种类的花上觅食一样，