The Africanized bee in the
western hemisphere descended from 26
Tanzanian queen bees (
A. m. scutellata) accidentally released by a replacement bee-keeper in
1957 near
Rio Claro,
São Paulo State in the southeast of
Brazil from hives operated by
biologist Warwick E. Kerr, who had interbred honey bees from
Europe and
southern Africa. Hives containing these particular queens were noted to be especially defensive. Kerr was attempting to breed a strain of bees that would be better adapted to
tropical conditions (i.e., more productive) than the European bees used in
North America and southern
South America. The hives from which the bees were released had special excluder grates which were in place to prevent the larger queen bees from getting out but to allow the drones free access to mate with the queen. Unfortunately, following the accidental release, the African queens eventually mated with local drones, and their descendants have since spread throughout the Americas.
The Africanized hybrid bees have become the preferred type of bee for
beekeeping in Central America and in tropical areas of South America because of improved productivity. However, in most areas the Africanized hybrid is initially feared because it tends to retain certain behavioral traits from its African ancestors that make it less desirable for domestic beekeeping.
Originally Posted by nreggie454
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