Killer Bees: The American Invasion

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Killer Bees: The American Invasion

1.0 Introduction:

Invasive species have a variety of impacts, many of which are unpredictable. The Africanized honey bee (also known as the “killer bee” in the media community or apis mellifera scutellata among scientists) provides an excellent case study of how even an intentionally introduced invasive species can become uncontrollable and problematic.

2.0 Brief History:

Honey bees are a non-native species in both North and South America. European honey bees (EHB) were first introduced as a relatively mild species. The EHB, however, is not well suited for tropical climates. After comparing the honey yields of EHB in the Americas to the yields of honey bees in Africa, Brazilian geneticist Warwick Kerr transported queens from Africa to Brazil in 1956 for colonization (via artificial insemination) with the preexisting EHB species. Kerr was aware that the African species was considerably aggressive, but thought that hybridization with the European species would create a less defensive yet more productive subspecies (or race). The results were favorable; Kerr described the Africanized honey bee (AHB) colonies as, “the most prolific, productive and industrious bees that we have seen up to now” (Spivac 3). In 1957 the experiment went awry when 26 AHB colonies escaped and swarmed into the forests of Sao Paulo. Since that time, AHB have spread 300 to 500 kilometers (100-200 miles) each year through the Americas, entering Mexico in 1986 and the United States in 1990.

3.0 Biology and Habits:

AHB differ from their EHB counterparts in both physical and sociological aspects: “Africanized bees resemble their African parents more than their European parents in mitochondrial DNA, mor...

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..., DC: Island Press.

Lyon, W. F., & Tew, J. E. (2003, April 2). Ohio State University extension fact sheet: Entomology. Ohio State University [Online]. Available: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2124.html [2003, April 2].

Kim, K. T., & Oguro, J. (1999, April). Update on the status of Africanized honey bees in the Western States. The Western Journal of Medicine, 170 (4), 220.

Robinson, G. E. (1998, Sept-Oct). From society to genes with the honey bee. American Scientist, 86, 456-457.

Spivac, M., Fletcher, D. J. C., & Breed, M. D. (Eds.). (1991). The “African” honey bee. Boulder: Westview Press.

Watanabe, M. E. (1994, August). Pollination worries rise as honey bees decline. Science, 265, 1170-1171.

Winston, M. L. (1992). Killer bees: The Africanized honey bee in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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