Spiroplasma melliferum and S. apis. Spiroplasma, a close relative of the genus Mycoplasma, are bacterial parasites that have been implicated as pathogens of insects, vertebrates and plants. Strains of spiroplasma similar to flower-associated parasites were identified as a pathogen of honey bees in France, Spiroplasma apis [69] , and the United States, Spiroplasma melliferum [70] . Pilot Sanger sequencing of a pooled honey bee sample (August 2009) identified an rRNA-derived sequence from a Spiroplasma. Pan-spiroplasma and pan-mycoplasma PCRs targeting the 16S rRNA gene detected sporadic infections over most of the time-points and a surge of 9 infections in August and 6 infections in September [71] . Sequence data indicates that these isolates have high homology to previously identified spiroplasma isolates (.98% nucleotide identity). Spiroplasma infections had strong associations with N. ceranae (Chi Square p = 0.015, OR = 7.2) and C. mellificae (p = 0.000076, OR = 16.3), however this may be an artifact of the short surge of Spiroplasma coinciding with a period of high Nosema load.