African bee

Taxobox
name = African honey bee


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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hymenoptera
familia = Apidae
genus = "Apis"
species = "Apis mellifera"
subspecies = "A. m. scutellata
trinomial = "Apis mellifera scutellata"
trinomial_authority = Lepeletier, 1836

The African honey bee ("Apis mellifera scutellata") is a subspecies of the Western honey bee. It is native to central and southern Africa, though at the southern extreme it is replaced by the Cape honey bee, "Apis mellifera capensis".

This subspecies has been determined to constitute one part of the ancestry of the Africanized bees (AKA "killer bees") spreading through the Americas.

The African bee is being threatened by the introduction of the Cape honey bee into northern South Africa. If a female worker from a Cape honey bee colony enters an African bee nest, they are not attacked, partly due to their resemblance to the African bee queen. Now independent from her own colony, she may begin laying eggs, and since "A.m. capensis" workers are capable of parthenogenetic reproduction, they will hatch as "clones" of herself, which will also lay eggs. As a result the parasitic "A. m. capensis" workers increase in number within a host colony. This leads to the death of the host colony on which they depend. An important factor causing the death of a colony seems to be the dwindling numbers of "A. m. scutellata" workers that perform foraging duties ("A. m. capensis" workers are greatly under-represented in the foraging force of an infected colony) owing to death of the queen, and, before queen death, competition for egg laying between "A. m. capensis" workers and the queen. When the colony dies, the "capensis" females will seek out a new host colony. [ [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6868/full/415163a.html] Martin, S.J. Beekman, M., Wossler, T.C., Ratnieks, F.L.W. (2002) Parasitic Cape honeybee workers, "Apis mellifera capensis", evade policing. "Nature" 415, 163-165 doi:10.1038/415163a]

A single African bee sting is no more venomous than a single European bee sting. Africanized honeybees respond more quickly when disturbed than do EHBs. They send out three to four times as many workers in response to a threat. They will also pursue an intruder for a greater distance from the hive.

Inappropriately labeled "killer bees", the sting of the AHB is no more venomous than that of the EHB. Each bee delivers only one sting. AHB are more aggressive and more bees deliver stings than EHB, resulting in more venom. Although people have died as a result of 100-300 stings, it has been estimated that the average lethal dose for an adult is 500-1,100 bee stings.See the following links: [http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/plantinsp/apiary/africanbees.html] [http://www.lawestvector.org/beebiology.htm]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee]

References