It was isolated and scientifically described in 2012 by Waldan K. Kwong and Nancy A. Moran, who named the bacteria after the American entomologist Robert Evans Snodgrass.

Snodgrassella alvi lives symbiotically as part of the intestinal flora in the midgut of honeybees (Apis mellifera) and some social bumblebee species.

According to a study published in September 2018, Snodgrassella alvi is damaged by the use of the pesticide glyphosate, resulting in impairments of the gut microbiota.

Bee larvae and young workers are almost devoid of gut bacteria in their first days of life and acquire their normal gut microbial flora orally only later through social interactions with other workers and by transmission between individuals within a hive during mutual food transfer (trophallaxis) in their first days outside the combs and at the beginning of their life in the colony.

[4] Consistent with specific, long-term host association, comparative genomic analysis revealed major differences and little or no gene flow between gut symbionts of bumblebees and bees.

However, within a host type (Apis or Bombus), researchers detected evidence of horizontal gene transfer between Gilliamella apicola and Snodgrassella alvi, demonstrating the importance of the broader gut community in directing the evolution of individual members.

[17] It is generally assumed that the herbicide glyphosate is harmless to animals, including bees and other insects, because its action targets the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), which is found only in plants and microorganisms.

The gene encoding EPSPS is present in almost all sequenced genomes of bee gut bacteria, suggesting that they are potentially susceptible to glyphosate.

According to a study published in September 2018, glyphosate affects the gut microbiota of young honey bees by inhibiting the shikimate pathway, particularly in Snodgrassella alvi.

As a result, a weakening of resistance to opportunistic pathogens and especially the harmful bacterial species Serratia marcescens has been observed, which is associated with increased mortality in the bees.

[22] Snodgrassella alvi was isolated from the gut of the European honey bee by Waldan K. Kwong and Nancy A. Moran together with Gilliamella apicola and described scientifically in 2012.

Even before that, both species were identified by Vincent G. Martinson and colleagues also in the research group of Nancy A. Moran, and provisionally named as Candidatus Snodgrassella alvi and Gilliamella apicola.

[10] The genus Snodgrassella was named after the American entomologist Robert Evans Snodgrass, honoring him as a pioneer in the study of insect physiology in the early 20th century, while the species epithet "alvi" refers to the lacunae of the bee intestine.

Leeia oryzae Amantichitinum, Chitiniphilus, Andreprevotia, Deefgia, Chitinibacter, Chitinilyticum Aquaspirillium, Microvirgula, Laribacter Gulbenkiania, Pseudogulbenkiania, Vogesella, Chromobacterium Vitreoscilla Snodgrassella alvi Stenoxybacter acetivorans Neisseria, Eikenella, Conchiformibius, Alysiella, Simonsiella, Klingella, Bergeriella Phylogenetic position of Snodgrassella alvi according to Kwong 2017.

[2][4] Kwong created a cladogram of the Neisseriaceae in 2017 based on published genomic data, in which he placed Snodgrassella alvi as a sister species to Stenoxybacter acetivorans, a species found in the intestines of termites, and placed it at the base of a taxon consisting of the genera Neisseria (polyphyletic), Eikenella, Conchiformibius, Alysiella, Simonsiella, Klingella, and Bergeriella, along with the genus Vitreoscilla.

[24] A research group led by Chinese researcher Yong Li grouped Vitreoscilla, Stenoxybacter, and Snodgrassella into a taxon that additionally includes the species Populibacter corticis, newly described in the paper, from the bark of a Canadian poplar (Populus × euramericana) canker as a sister species of Snodgrassella alvi.

As a specialized gut symbiont, Snodgrassella alvi evolved for millions of years with honeybees and bumblebees (genus Bombus), where the bacteria are found.

[26] Further analysis revealed that there are significantly greater differences in the protein-coding genes of honeybee strains of Snodgrassella alvi, in contrast to those of rRNA.

This is explained by the fact that the variability of the 16S rRNA loci had been restricted by frequent recombination within populations, while other regions of the genome continuously evolve and diversify in adaptation to changing ecological conditions in the gut.