Crithidia bombi

Crithidia bombi is a parasitic protist from the order Trypanosomatida. It is the most prevalent parasite of bumblebees.

Crithidia bombi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Phylum:	Euglenozoa
Class:	Kinetoplastea
Order:	Trypanosomatida
Family:	Trypanosomatidae
Genus:	Crithidia
Species:	C. bombi
Binomial name
Crithidia bombi Lipa and Triggiani, 1988[1]

Ecology

Crithidia bombi is an important parasite of various bumblebee species, including common species like Bombus terrestris, Bombus muscorum, and Bombus hortorum.^[2][3] The parasites negatively impact reproductive fitness of Bombus queens, as they affect their ovarian development as well as early colony establishment after the queens emerge from hibernation.^[4]

References

1. Lipa JJ, Triggiani O (1988). "Crithidia bombi sp. n. a flagellated parasite of a bumble-bee Bombus terrestris L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae)". Acta Protozoologica. 27: 3–4.
2. Runckel, Charles; DeRisi, Joseph; Flenniken, Michelle L. (2014-04-17). "A Draft Genome of the Honey Bee Trypanosomatid Parasite Crithidia mellificae". PLOS ONE. 9 (4): e95057. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...995057R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095057. PMC 3990616. PMID 24743507.
3. Baer, B. and P. Schmid-Hempel (2001). "Unexpected consequences of polyandry for parasitism and fitness in the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris". Evolution. 55 (8): 1639–1643. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2001)055[1639:ucopfp]2.0.co;2. PMID 11580023.
4. Erler, Silvio; Popp, Mario; Wolf, Stephan; Lattorff, H. Michael G. (2012-05-01). "Sex, horizontal transmission, and multiple hosts prevent local adaptation of Crithidia bombi, a parasite of bumblebees (Bombus spp.)". Ecology and Evolution. 2 (5): 930–940. Bibcode:2012EcoEv...2..930E. doi:10.1002/ece3.250. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 3399159. PMID 22837838.