—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4,1978 '
48
Status of Africanized honey bee is improved
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Ordinarily, most people
know what to do for a bee
sting - scrape out the stinger
to reduce the venom injected
and apply baking soda in a
little water to ease the pain.
Lately, however, one
might worry. Recent stories
about a new strain of “killer
bees” might raise the
question: “Was it one of
them?”
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) an
swers: “Don’t worry.” The
ferocious insects featured in
magazines and newspapers,
on television and in movies
are fiction. The real bees
behind the fiction are not
that ferocious. And they’ve
not been seen closer than
2,500 miles from the U.S.
border.
The real bees are the
result of matings between
wild bees brought from
Africa and European-type
domestic bees raised in
South America. Because of
their heritage, the new
strains of bees are called
“Africanized” or
“hybridized.” All of the new
strains look like domestic
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honey bees, but they are
better adapted to
semitropical climates where
they are topnotch honey
producers.
The new hybridized
strains arose through a
combination of intent and
accident. Honey bee queens
from Africa first were
brought to Brazil in 1956 to
be interbred scientifically
with the local domestic
honey bees. Swarms from 28
experimental colonies
escaped along with their
African queens. They
thrived in the wild and
spread rapidly.
Brazilians quickly learned
that Africanized bee strains
need special handling
because they are unusually
aggressive. When they are
disturbed, they attack in
larger numbers, keep up the
stinging longer, and chase
the intruder farther than
most domestic bees.
Although the sting of
Africanized bees is no more
venomous than that of
domestic bees, the attack of
an Africanized swarm is
definitely more frightening
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and painful - but not more
deadly. .
Brazilian beekeepers
found that
Africanized bees, they had to
wear coveralls and gloves,
in addition to veils, even
though the extra clothing is
quite uncomfortable. By
adapting their procedures,
however, commercial
beekeepers were able to get
along with the Africanized
strains and profited from
their higher productivity.
A further disadvantage of
the Africanized strains is
their tendency to migrate
large distances. All types of
honey bees leave their hives
m swarms at some time.
This swarming occurs with
domestic honey bees mainly
when a colony gets too large.
The queen leaves with about
half of her bees to find a new
home. The remaining bees
develop a new queen.
In addition, Africanized
bees also take off when
conditions in their en
viroment don’t suit them.
This special trait is called
“absconding swarming.”
It differs from reproductive
swarming in that swarming
domestic bees rarely move
EACH ACCOUNT INSURED TO 540,000
more than a mile. Observers
beheve Africanized bees
abscond on flights of 50 miles
or more. So far, absconding
swarms of Africanized bees
have moved northward as
far as Venezuela and
westward into Peru and
Bolivia. They also have
moved south into Uruguay
and Argentina.
American beekeepers
have two major concerns
about the Africanized
strains. First they wonder
how long the bees will take to
reach the United States and
what can be done to delay
their arrival. Second, they
want to know whether the
hybridized bee expected
here would be troublesome
and what countermeasures
can be taken to minimize
any trouble.
1 An exact arrival date is
hard to set. If Africanized
strains continue to migrate
at their present pace, they
could move naturally
through Central America
and Mexico into the southern
United States in 10 to 15
years. Or they could “hit-
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chhike” by ship or plane and
get here much quicker.
To deny the bees a free
nde. Congress passed an
amendment to the Honey
Bee Act in 1976 to prevent
bees, including their eggs,
larvae, pupae, or semen,
from being imported into the
United States. Bees from
Canada are excepted,
because Canada is equally
anxious as the United States
to keep out Africanized
strains.
The bee ban is enforced by
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