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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Walter Starks <walterstarks AT icloud.com>, Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Africanized Bees
  • Date: Wed, 25 May 2016 13:36:57 -0400

The article stops short of telling us what we really would like to know: the origin of this colony. They speculate but that doesn't help. Maybe Don Hopkins can give us more info once this SC case has been fully investigated.

There are at least 3 ways the African genes could have gotten into this hive:
  1. The colony or queen could have been purchased. Breeders in Texas send African-gene packages and queens all over the US. Don't buy packages from Texas!
  2. The colony could have naturally replaced its queen and the virgin mated with African drones. The source of those drones would then become the worrisome question, at least for SC beekeepers. It is very possible that African swarms could/can/do arrive on ships in the Port of Charleston. That's why the area undergoes routine checks, and is why we have an African Honey Bee protocol in place around the Port of Wilmington.
  3. The colony could have been usurped (overtaken) by an African-gene swarm. This is a common African trait.
Genetic analysis can reveal which of these occurred, or at least separate 1 and 2 from 3.

If the source of the genes is solely from drones, that isn't as worrisome as if they were maternal. Male-line hybrids aren't hardy.

Note that the bees were discovered by a random check; they weren't tagged as being particularly aggressive. ALL mean colonies should be requeened, African or not -- there is no reason to keep mean bees.

The article also doesn't tell us the extent of Africanization of the bees. That's the big question. Do they represent a new northern incursion line or are they just Texas hybrids? The latter apparently don't get a meaningful genetic foothold everywhere they are purchased, otherwise the whole country would have been overrun several years ago.

I highly recommend Dewey Caron's Africanized Bees in the Americas to anyone who is interested in this topic.

Randall


On 5/25/2016 9:13 AM, Walter Starks wrote:
03C2126A-E30B-4258-9872-531FA6956BC1 AT icloud.com" type="cite">
Africanized Bees found in Charleston, SC.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/article79478822.html

______

Walter


You never can tell with bees. ~ Winnie-the-Pooh


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