The African Honey Bee

About this book

Reprint of a book first published in 1990 by Westview Press.

This book is the first review of the scientific literature on the Africanized honey bee. The African subspecies Apis mellifera scutellata (formerly adansonii) was introduced into South America in 1956 with the intent of cross-breeding it with other subspecies of bees already present in Brazil to obtain a honey bee better adapted to tropical conditions. Shortly after its introduction, some of the African stock became established in the feral population around São Paulo, Brazil, and spread rapidly through Brazil. It has since migrated through most of the neotropics, displacing and/or hybridizing with the previously imported subspecies of honey bees. Africanized bees have been stereotyped as having high rates of swarming and absconding, rapid colony growth, and fierce defensive behaviour. As they have spread through the neotropics they have interacted with the human population, disrupting apiculture and urban activities when high levels of defensive behaviour are expressed.

Contents

1. Introduction / Marla Spivak, David J. C. Fletcher, and Michael D. Breed

PART ONE:  SYSTEMATICS AND IDENTIFICATION
2. Systematics and Identification of Africanized Honey Bees / Howell V. Daly
3. Genetic Characterization of Honey Bees Through DNA Analysis / H. Glenn Hall

PART TWO: THE SPREAD OF AFRICANIZED BEES AND THE AFRICANIZATION PROCESS
4. Interdependence of Genetics and Ecology in a Solution to the African Bee Problem / David J.C. Fletcher
5. The Processes of Africanization / Thomas E. Rinderer and Richard L. Hellmich II
6. Africanized Bees: Natural Selection for Colonizing Ability / Francis L. W. Ratnieks
7. The Africanization Process in Costa Rica / Marla Spivak
8. Honey Bee Genetics and Breeding / Robert E. Page, Jr., and Warwick E. Kerr
9. Continuing Commercial Queen Production After the Arrival of Africanized Honey Bees / Richard L. Hellmich II

PART THREE: POPULATION BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, AND DISEASES
10. The Inside Story: Internal Colony Dynamics of Africanized Bees / Mark L. Winston
11. Population Biology of the Africanized Honey Bee / Gard W. Otis
12. Foraging Behavior and Honey Production / Thomas E. Rinderer and Anita M. Collins
13. Aspects of Africanized Honey Bee Ecology in Tropical America / David W. Roubik
14. Bee Diseases, Parasites, and Pests / H. Shimanuki, D. A. Knox, and David De long

PART FOUR: DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR
15. Defensive Behavior /Michael D. Breed
16. Genetics of Defensive Behavior I / Anita M. Collins and Thomas E. Rinderer
17. Genetics of Defensive Behavior II / Antonio Carlos Stort and Lionel Segui Gonçalves

PART FIVE: BEEKEEPING IN SOUTH AMERICA
18. Beekeeping in Brazil / Lionel Segui Gonçalves, Antonio Carlos Start, and David De long
19. The Africanized Honey Bee in Peru / Robert B. Kent
20. Beekeeping in Venezuela / Richard L. Hellmich II and Thomas E. Rinderer

Author Index
Subject Index

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