From 8-14-14.
Four additional honey bee larva are now dead. This brings the total dead to 7 out of 12 (58.3%) here on day 8. Usually on day 8 the larva have ingested all their food (the BAD) and have begun pre-pupation (straightening out), however none of the larva in this experiment have done so. Most that are still showing signs of life (slight undulation and reflective glistening skin) have not yet eaten all the present BAD. This is highly unusual, typically the larva eat every last drop that is present and are very active, moving their body and head around. These larva barely move. All of this leads me to believe that they are not well and could either be succumbing to P. larvae or the yeast that was spiked into their BAD on day 0.
Additionally, on some of the confirmed dead larva today the presence of small white dots could be seen on their surface (or just below their surface as it is translucent).
I plan to homogenize each dead larva individually and determine the presence of P. larvae through PCR using the AFB - F/R primer sets in the near future.
//EWW
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