Africanized Honey Bees

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Africanized Honey Bees
Unknown artists vision of AfHB

• Facts and Myths

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Origin
Swarmed into wild in Brazil
Brought to South America from East Africa
Migrated through Central America into North
America
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Africanized bee spread in Americasfollowing
introduction into Brazil (1957)
X
On several Caribbean Islands due to
human movement
Pacific coast of Peru/Ecuador due to
beekeeper colony movement
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Expansion in the US
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Africanized Bee Life History

• Individual
• Slightly smaller bodied
• Rear workers in19 days
• Rear queens in 15 ½ days
• Colony
• Utilize 90 of brood frame
• Reproduction
• Drone numbers higher
• Drones fly earlier
• Mating rate higher

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Africanized Bee Life History

• Swarming
• 14 x per year
• Feast or famine
• Nest Site Selection
• Everything is fair game
• Foraging
• Early risers
• Exceptional gleaners
• Defense

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Environmental Factors

• Rainfall
• Excess of 55 inches per year
• Climate
• Tropical subtropical
• Winter
• Small clusters
• Low food stores
• Poor clustering behavior

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Africanized Honey Bees

• Myths and Facts

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AHB is resistant to Varroa.

• AHB has shorter development time
• AHB has higher population growth rate
• Different mites in Americas
• Varroa jacobsoni in South America
• Varroa destructor in North America
• V. destructor more damaging
• MYTH

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AHB cannot survive cold winters.

• AHB capable of clustering
• Food (honey) is limiting factor
• AHB stores less honey
• Beekeepers feed bees low in food
• AHB has survived cold temperatures
• Winter in Andes Mountains
• High altitude in SW
• MYTH

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AHB is an excellent honey producer.

• Populations are smaller
• More nests per square mile
• Swarm up to 14 times per year
• Abscond often
• MYTH

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AHB is a poor pollinator.

• Greater brood production
• More nest per square mile
• Highly effective gleaner
• Start earlier in day
• Higher proportion foraging
• MYTH

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Anyone can recognize AHB.

• Only slight size difference
• Wing length
• Body weight
• Behavior not always readily apparent
• Dependent on size of population
• Environmental cues
• MYTH

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EHB can live alongside AHB.

• AHB out-competes EHB
• Earlier risers
• More flight time
• More brood
• More drones
• More swarms
• AHB supplants EHB within 2 years
• MYTH

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AHB Identification
Not easy to ID in early stages of colonization

• Behavior
• FABIS
• Morphometrics
• DNA testing

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AHB Response

• Individual
• Community
• EMS
• Agriculture
• Beekeeper

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AHB Risk

• Parks
• Playgrounds
• Ball fields
• Schools
• Day Cares
• Retirement Facilities

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AHB Risk

• Children
• Elderly
• Infirmed