Africanized Honeybees
"Killer bee"

AHB colonies are feral, except in research facilities, and Africanized bees generally spread by breeding with local bees that swarm.   Africanized bees are not raised by private beekeepers, since they are so hard to manage and since it is illegal in the U.S. to raise this bee outside an approved research facility.

Africanized bee hybrids demonstrate most of the African bee's characteristics, including hyper-defensive, aggressive protection of the colony, smaller nests, farther foraging distances, shorter life expectancy, and a high tendency to abscond or swarm.  However, Africanized bees are extremely similar in appearance to European bees, and only close, expert observation can differentiate the two.  You cannot tell the difference between AHB and EHB with just a casual visual inspection.

The Africanized honeybee has not dominated the honeybee population in the southern United States as many had predicted.  This lack of dominance is primarily due to the diseases and pests to which the feral AHB colonies fall prey, including tracheal mites, varroa mites, foulbrood and nosema.  Since AHB colonies are not in managed apiaries where such conditions can be prevented or treated, they have not fared well in the wild.  One curious phenomenon is that the AHB has apparently not yet spread to the southeastern US.  It appears to have restricted its occupation to Texas and west to California.  Honeybee researchers have not concluded the reason for the odd halt in their eastward progress.  Effective apiary management and control of swarming are the primary means of minimizing the spread of the AHB.

Honeybees and their Life

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