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Diseases contribute to the decline of pollinator populations, which may be aggravated by the interspecific transmission of honey bee pests and pathogens. Flowers increase the risk of transmission, as they expose the pollinators to infections during the foraging activity. In this study, both the prevalence and abundance of 21 honey bee pathogens (11 viruses, 4 bacteria, 3 fungi, and 3 trypanosomatids) were assessed in the flower-visiting entomofauna sampled from March to September 2021 in seven sites in the two North-Italian regions, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont. A total of 1,028 specimens were collected, identified, and analysed. Of the twenty-one pathogens that were searched for, only thirteen were detected. Altogether, the prevalence of the positive individuals reached 63.9%, with

In recent years molecular techniques have been used on museum material as integrative support for classic taxonomy. This cumulative systematics approach is especially for rare or extinct specimens, and genetic analysis may be useful to discern information that is not possible to glean from live materials or morphology. To date, the extraction of DNA required at least a partial destruction of the specimens, which is not possible for all individuals, especially the types. In this study, we described a novel method to extract mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from pinned museum bee individuals to avoid any external morphological damage. This method was able to amplify the mtDNA Cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in bee samples collected up to 27 years ago. We tested the efficacy of this method on 72 preserved be specimens belonging to nine species among four families, it could be used on many museums’ rare and/or extinct bee species because it does not provide external morphological damages. The method could be helpful for providing ecological, taxonomic, and phylogenetic information about specimens preserved in museum collections.