Bumblebees prefer sulfoxaflor contaminated food and show caste-specific differences in sulfoxaflor sensitivity

More than 30% of human food crop yield requires animal pollination. In addition, successful crop production depends on agrochemicals to control pests. However, agrochemicals can have negative consequences on beneficial insect pollinators, such as bees. We investigated the effects of an emerging class of pesticides, sulfoximines, on the common eastern bumblebee, Bombus impatiens. We performed a series of 96-hour toxicity tests on microcolonies of laboratory-reared B. impatiens. Our data showed that sulfoxaflor is significantly less toxic to B. impatiens than historically used neonicotinoid pesticides, such as thiamethoxam. Further, for the first time, we found significant differences among caste sensitivity to sulfoxaflor; workers and drones were more sensitive than queens. These findings are notable because they reveal both caste and sex-specific differences in bumblebee sensitivity to pesticides. Interestingly, we found no evidence that bumblebees avoid sulfoxaflor-contaminated sugar s..., , , # Bumblebees prefer sulfoxaflor contaminated food and show caste-specific differences in sulfoxaflor sensitivity [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mw6m9064f](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mw6m9064f) ## Description of the data and file structure The data is found in an excel document with five tabs: (1) SFX Acute Toxicity Workers, (2) SFX Acute Toxicity Queens, (3) SFX Acute Toxicity Drones, (4) THX Acute Toxicity Workers, and (5) SFX Feeding Choice. The first four tabs contain survivorship data for the 96-hour acute toxicity tests for either sulfoxaflor or thiamethoxam performed on the three castes (queens, workers, and drones) of *Bombus impatiens* bumblebees. These four tabs include the following columns: * Sulfoxaflor or Thiamethoxam (mg/L): The concentration of SFX or THX in the nectar provided to the bees * Cage: Replicate number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8) * Number of Bees: number of bees in each cage at the beginning of the experiment * Number of Survivors: number of surviving...