Africanized+Honeybee

=Africanized Honey Bee=

General Information:
African honeybee's scientific name is //Apis mellifera scutellata//. They are 3/4 of an inch in length, and are covered in brownish fuzz. They have black stripes around the abdomen that are not as distinct as those on wasps or hornets. They have four clear wings and six legs are attached to the thorax or the middle section of the body. (2)

Detailed description:
The Africanized Honeybee was developed when African honeybees were brought to Brazil for crossbreeding with the native honeybees. This was an attempt to produce honey in the tropics. Some of the bees were released in the wild, where they began to freely breed with the native bees; creating a hybrid. The hibrids have spread northward, and are now established throughout Latin America, and have made it to the United States. (2)

Habitat and Distribution:
Africanized honey bees spread northward at a rate of about 200 to 300 miles per year. Today every country in Latin America except Chile is populated by the bees. The first natural colony of Africanized honey bees in the United States was found in Texas in 1990. In the years following the bees moved westward, eventually occupying much of the American Southwest and the southern counties of Nevada and California. By the summer of 2005, Africanized bees had migrated east of the Mississippi and established colonies in Florida.(4)

Impacts:
The expansion of these bees has been monitored like no other insect. This is because they are killing people and livestock and drastically changing beekeeping in every country that they enter. Because of newspaper and magazine reports and even motion pictures portraying swarms of uncontrollable deadly bees invading cities there has been exaggerated concern. These bees are much more defensive are  known to sometimes take over European colonies by entering them and killing the resident queen. With all of the bad that they do however, they do produce more honey then the Europian honeybee.(1)

History:
African honey bees were brought to Brazil in the 1950s. This was because scientists thought that the genetic material from African bees could be used to make the European bees produce better honey. When some of these bees were released they were so successful that a large wild population developed. These bees then spread through South America, to Central America, and eventually hit North America where they continue to spread. (3)

=Control Measures:= With rising conern of Africanized honey bees moving into populated areas, there are pest control companies that remove them.They find the bee hive, remove the bees, and then take measures to prevent future infestations.(3)

Works Cited:
Visscher, P. Kirk. "Africanized Bees, 1990-1995: Initial Rapid Invasion Has Slowed..." __SIRS Researcher__. Feb. 1997. 18 Nov. 2008 <[|http://www.sirs.com]>.  "Africanized bees (Apis mellifera scutellata)." //DISCovering Science//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Gale. Stroudsburg High School. 19 Nov. 2008 .

"The African Honey Bee." __University of Florida__. 1997. 19 Nov. 2008 .

Angle, J. Scott. __The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and__ __Environmental Sciences__. 19 Nov. 2008 .