The Africanized Honeybee: The epithet "killer bee" is undeserved
Camazine S and Morse RA. 1988. The Africanized Honeybee: The epithet "killer bee" is undeserved. American Scientist. 76(5):464-471
In 1956, forty-six honeybee queens from the Pretoria region of South Africa, and one queen from Tabora, Tanzania, were taken to Rio Claro, Brazil, in a project at providing a better breeding stock for beekeepers in a trobical Brazil. In 1957, twenty-six swarms headed by African queens were accidentally allowed to excape. The African bees literally took over the South American continent. Within two years, over two million colonies became 'Africanized,' hybrids of European and African races. Nearly all of Brazil's bees were Africanized by 1970; The bees reached Venezuela and Colombia in 1980. Entry into the U.S. expected by 1989 or 1990.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Camazine, Scott; Morse, Roger
- Units
- ORPI
- Keywords
- Africanized Honeybee, Biology, History, understanding