Today we publish work from data originally collected some years ago but provides a fascinating insight into the fungal diversity found within bumblebee colonies. Samples of various substrates from within 14 bumblebee colonies, including the honey, honey cup wall, egg cup wall, and frass were placed on agar and any fungi present that grew was isolated and sequenced.
Overall, we cultured 11 fungal species from the various nest substrates. These included both pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi, such as Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., and Candida sp. Our results provide the first insights into the diversity of viable fungal communities in commercial bumblebee nests.
Miles Nesbit, explained the findings with a PeerJ spotlight (embedded below), and a direct link to the research is here.