Repellency of two phenylacetate-ester pyrethroids to the honeybee

The repellency of fenvalerate and flucythrinate (pyrethroids of the phenylacetate-ester series) to the honeybee, Apis mellifera L., was modelled. These compounds were found to have effects similar to those of permethrin and cypermethrin, pyrethroids of the cyclopropanecarboxylate type. The research model used a small colony of honeybees confined in a 150 m3 flight cage; foraging bees received contact but not gustatory exposure to the insecticides as they imbibed scented sucrose syrup from feeding stations. Contact exposure to fenvalerate and flucythrinate resulted in sublethal, transitory inhibition of bee activity. The exposed bees remained in the colony for a period of recovery lasting less than 24 h, after which, normal foraging patterns resumed.