http://entomologytoday.org/2015/05/06/newly-discovered-bacterium-helps-honey-bee-larvae/Newly-Discovered Bacterium Helps Honey Bee Larvae
Molecular biologist Vanessa Corby-Harris and microbial ecologist Kirk E. Anderson at the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, have named a new species of bacteria — Parasaccharibacter apium. An Acetobacteraceae so far found only in honey bees and their hives, it appears to give honey bee larvae a significantly better chance of surviving to become pupae.
In laboratory experiments designed by Corby-Harris, bee larvae were fed either P. apium-spiked jelly or sterile control jelly. The group fed P. apium had a 20-percent better survival rate in the first trial and a 40-percent better survival rate in the second trial.
