The greater wax moth (GWM) Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is the most serious pest of honeybee wax combs in stores. It can cause substantial losses to combs and frames of beehives (Kwadha, 2017)1. Initially, the larvae bore into the comb later, making silken threads into the middle of the comb and with the course of the time entire comb gets covered with the mass of silken webbing and faecal matter leads to a condition called “Galleriasis^” (Laltia, 2017, Hosamani,2000) 23 The wax moth larvae partly remove the cell capping of developing pupae leads to a condition known as “Bald Brood” which sometimes leads to the formation of adults with deformed legs and wings (Goodman, 2019) 4. Stated that every year wax moth causes financial losses in the apiculture industry which has raised a serious concern among the apiculturists, scientists as well as the general public (Kumar, et, al.; 2018)5.

In the last three decades the control measures that are available for combs and other equipments not occupied by bees are physical methods involving exposure to heat (Charrière, 2002) 6. Given the undesirable ecosystem outburst that ensued following excessive and continuous reliance on conventional pesticides (Carson, 2002) 7, there have been considerable research efforts to provide alternative “reduced-risk products”. It has been focused here on the past and current management methods,and further highlight their merits and demerits which should form the basis of decision making for efficient control of GWM.

Because of the hazards of synthetic insecticides, recently the pesticidal effects of botanical extracts have been investigated by several researchers worldwide .(Imam, , et,al.; 2013. Jawalkar, et,al.; 2016) 89.

Propolis is a wax –like resinous substance collected by honey bees from tree buds or other botanical sources and used as cement to seal cracks and open spaces in the hive.Its colour varies from green to brown and reddish, depending on its botanical source. Propolis is normally composed of 30% wax, 50% resin,10% essential oils,5% pollen and 5% various organic residues (Silici, et, al.; 2007)10. Propolis is sticky at and above room temperature. At lower temperature it becomes hard and very brittle (Bankova, 2005) 11.

Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt) is a Gram-positive bacterium that produces insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) during sporulation. ICPs are mostly Cry proteins an important component of Bt biopesticides and vital tools for insect control in transgenic crops. The identified Cry proteins have been classified into Cry1−Cry78 on the basis of amino acid sequence identity, among these Cry1, Cry2, and Cry9 proteins exhibit strong insecticidal activity against lepidopteran pests. Cry1 proteins have been widely applied in transgenic cotton, corn, and soybean to control lepidopteran pests over the last 22 years (Shan, et, al.; 2019)12 .

The main objectives of this study was to examine the ethanolic extract of bee glue (Proplis) powder and Bacillus thuringensis var.kurstaki (Btk) against the 3rd larval instars of the Greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella).

Larval instars of G. mellonella were collected from local honey bee apiary located at Khartoum State, Shambat area during the period from the 2^nd_ of April to 29^th_ of October 2021.The infested honey bee wax combs contained all stages of insect development were used to establish the laboratory stock culture for further studies. The larvae were reared on an artificial diet (Metwally, et, al.; 2012)13. The moths were placed and allowed to reproduce in the laboratory with a temperature of 31±1°C, 66.28% RH and 12L: 12D photoperiod (These were the average conditions for all farther experiments) and placed in a closed aquarium tank (9.2x16x9.2 cm), covered with muslin cloth and brought to the laboratory for mass rearing. Early larval instars were reared in groups of 100 larvae in plastic cages 19 cm in diameter covered with muslin cloth and fed on bee wax. The 3rd larval instars were reared separately in plastic cups 5 cm in diameter and 7 cm in height to avoid cannibalism. The bottom of each cup was filled with bee wax for pupations. Upon emergence, the adults were transferred to glass cages30*30*30 cm covered with muslin cloth and fed on 10% sugar solution (Jallow, et, al.; 2001) 14. The glass cages contained a comprised folded paper sheets for the deposition of eggs. The rearing process continued until a sufficient number of homogenous populations of larvae were collected for the experiments.

The bee glue powder was collected from AL Baraka Componay for bee products and honey. One hundred and fifty (150)g of prepared bee glue powder were extracted with absolute ethanol using soxhlet apparatus, extraction continued for six hours, and the ethanol solvent was removed off the crude extract by rotary evaporator (Elnour, 2014) 15. Five (5) concentrations (5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15%) were used.

Biotect 9.4 % WP commercial formulation containing Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki from ( Organic Biotechnology Co., First industrial zone , El Noubareya, El Beheira, Egypt were used in five (5) concentrations (0.62,1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/ml). The obtained data were statistically analyzed according to analysis of variance(ANOVA).Duncan's Multiple Range Test was used for means separation using Statistix 8.Also the data were subjected to probit analysis using SPSS16.0software to get LC50 and LC90.

The obtained results clearly proved that the proplis ethanolic extracts at 15% and 10mg/ml Bt have insecticidal activity against 3rd larval instar of G. mellonella. Further studies are neded to use different concentrations of Proplis (Bee glue) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in field conditions.