A recent posting about honey bees mentioned, among other things, Nosema locustae. When I forwarded the posting to a bee keeper friend, his reply included the following statement: "Nosema(s) are common infections of the insects digestion tract, and ... I see that the agribusiness world are using them now as biological controls on certain insect pests like moths and grasshoppers."
It's not just agribusiness; I've used it in the past and am considering using it again this year for grasshoppers. Are there multiple kinds of Nosema protozoan? Are honey bees affected (even sub lethally) by Nosema locustae? I always thought Nosema locustae (which is advertised to affect only grasshoppers, mole crickets, Mormon crickets, and black field crickets and which is sold as Semaspore Bait or Nolo Bait) was a wise ecological approach to controlling grasshoppers. Now I wonder if the advertising isn't telling the whole story (unfortunately advertising very often doesn't!) or if distinctly different Nosema(s) are responsible for bee infections. Can someone out there who understands the infections of insect guts better than I do please comment?
Warm regards,
Edna
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