Developments in Brief : ‘Killer Bees’ in Mexico, May Hit U.S. Next Year

Africanized honey bees, known as “killer bees” for their tendency to sting with little provocation, have shown up in Mexico and could reach the United States by next year, a bee specialist said at last week’s first International Conference on Africanized Honey Bees.

“The impact they’ll have on agriculture in North America is unknown,” said Robert Page, an assistant professor of entomology at Ohio State University, site of the conference. “But if the bees act as they do in Central and South America, it could affect U.S. agriculture significantly.”

The bees’ defensiveness makes them difficult to manage and use in structured pollination programs, he said. In addition, their tendency to swarm and sting causes public health concerns.

At least 350 people in Central and South America have died from stings, according to Jim Tew, director of the International Beekeeping Program at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute.

African bees were introduced to Brazil in 1956 by geneticist Warwick Kerr. European races of honey bees, which were used for commercial beekeeping, were poorly adapted for the tropics. African races were well adapted but had objectionable characteristics, such as a tendency to sting. Kerr hoped to cross the bees and select the best qualities of each.

But some of the African bees escaped, and they now have been found in southern Mexico and as far away as Argentina.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that in Venezuela, where Africanized bees arrived in 1975, commercial honey production dropped from 535 metric tons in 1976 to 78 metric tons in 1981.

Scientists do not know whether Africanized bees reproduce independently or interbreed with American bees, which are of European descent, or even how severe the problem will be in the United States.