Public Funding for Dragonfli Limited

Bumblebee nests have historically been affected by parasitic moths known as waxmoths. The larvae of this moth not only eat through the nest structure, but kill developing and adult bumblebees. Bumblebees are essential for growers (commercial and amateur) as they pollinate a diverse range of fruit and vegetable crops. Commercially produced bumblebee nests havetherefore been developed for growers to use within their crops. When waxmoths infest these nests the colony soon becomes weak and inactive. Limited options are currently available for preventing waxmoths from infesting the bumblebee nests although none of these are fully effective. Recently, however, we have indications that certain plant oils could mask thesignals that waxmoths use to detect bumblebee nests. We therefore propose investigating the potential for natural plant oils to be used to develop products for masking bumblebee nests from egg-laying waxmoths.