 The term killer bee refers to a strain of highly aggressive honey bee originally collected in Africa in the 1950's and brought to Brazil for research purposes. The "Africanized" bee colonies were accidentily released from the research apiary and multiplied rapidly in the tropical climate of central Brazil.
Where do killer bees occur in the US?
Since then Africanized bee colonies have slowly displaced native honey bees wherever they occur together. Africanized bee colonies have moved steadily north eventually reaching the southwestern US in the 1990's. They now occur throughout the southwestern US from southern California, Nevada, Arizona, southern New Mexico, southwest Texas and as far east as southern Florida. New Africanized hives are found further north each year.
Identification of Africanized honey bees
In the US, our native honey bee is actually a strain that originated in Europe and hence is called the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). Africanized honey bees are the same species and are nearly identical to their European cousins. It takes an expert and a microscope to tell the two bees apart. What distinguishes European from African strains is their behavior. The African strain, and Africanized colonies, exhibit extreme aggression when the hive is distrubed. The European strain is much, much less aggressive in defense of the hive.
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| Africanized honey bees surrounding a European honey bee queen (marked with a red dot). Photo by USDA/ARS |
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