Scientific note - Observations on feral honey bees in Florida, USA

Scientific note

Observations on feral honey bees in Florida, USA

Tomas Mozer, Apicultural consultant / Apiary technician, University of Florida¹

Preliminary analysis of morphometric² (forewing length, fwl), genetic³ (mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA) and chemical⁴ (cuticular hydrocarbon, CHC) data suggests that feral honey bees in coastal regions of Florida are mongrelized populations, partially differentiated from managed colonies/common European subspecies, and possibly a unique ecotype adapted to predominantly subtropical conditions.

Examination of Africanbee Identification logs⁵ from 1986-92/1998-2000 consisting of suspect samples detected and/or trapped at various port-of-entry vicinities, including FABIS⁶ results, indicates that the presumed feral populations’ average worker forewing length was 9.11+/-0.16mm (n=497), comparable to that found by Daly (mean=9.15+/-0.01mm) who concluded that evidence “points to an underlying genetic differentiation among feral populations in California”⁷.

Of particular interest were colonies of smaller worker bees (avg. fwl <9.0mm), approximately 21% of total samples, of which 1% were identified as Africanized honey bees by African mtDNA markers⁸. The remaining 20% manifested substantial western as well as eastern European matrilines, including an unknown mitotype that was neither European nor (sub-Saharan) African, but perhaps of circum-Mediterranean origin⁹. Some intermediate/hybrid CHC profiles were also found, demonstrating the less than definitive characteristics of this population¹⁰.

These results coincide with previous studies of the diversity of feral and commercial populations in the southern U.S. by Schiff & Sheppard¹¹ showing significant genetic differences which “suggest that the feral population may represent a novel source of genetic variation for breeding programs”¹².

References:
¹Contacts: P.O.Box 4144, St. Augustine, FL/USA 32085. E-mail: tommozer@hotmail.com

² Rinderer, T.E.“Symposium: New Technologies for the Taxonomic Identification of Arthropods: Computer Assisted Identification of Hybrid Strains of Western Honey Bees”. Florida Entomologist; (September 1988), v71, n3, p281-288.
<http://webluis.fcla.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fclwlv3/wlv3/DBQB/DI469768489/DGref/SSKIPk%3dhoney+bees/RO1/RP33/CM34/P13>

³ Hall, H.G.“Symposium: New Technologies for the Taxonomic Identification of Arthropods:Distinguishing African and European Honeybees Using Nuclear DNA Restriction Fragment Polymorphisms”. Florida Entomologist; (September 1988), v71, n3, p294-299. <http://webluis.fcla.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fclwlv3/wlv3/DBQB/DI469768489/DGref/SSKIPk%3dhoney+bees/RO1/RP33/CM34/P12>

⁴ Carlson, D.A. “Symposium: New Technologies for the Taxonomic Identification of Arthropods: Hydrocarbons for Identification and Phenetic Comparisons: Cockroaches, Honey Bees and Tsetse Flies”. Florida Entomologist; (September 1988), v71, n3, 333-345.
<http://webluis.fcla.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fclwlv3/wlv3/DBQB/DI469768489/DGref/SSKIPk%3dhoney+bees/RO1/RP33/CM34/P11>

⁵ FDACS/DPI/Apiary inspection section: unpublished data. <<http://doacs.state.fl.us/~pi/plantinsp/bees.html>>

⁶ Sylvester, H.A. & Rinderer,T.E.“ FABIS Manual: Fast Africanized Bee Identification System”. USDA/ARS, Honey-Bee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Research Laboratory. <http://www.beesource.com/pov/ahb/fabismanual.htm>

⁷ Daly, H.V., et al. “Clinal geographic variation in feral honey bees in California,USA”. 1991 Apidologie 22: pp. 591-609.
<http://danrrec.ucdavis.edu/sierra_foothill/research_publications7.html#g_8>

⁸ Hall, H.G.: unpublished results. <http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~hgh/deptpage/hgh_biog.htm>

⁹ Franck,P.,et al.“The origin of west European Subspecies of honey bees (Apis mellifera):new insights from mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite data”. Evolution 52(4):1119-1134. <http://www.ensam.inra.fr/URLB/apis/evolution/evolution.html>

¹⁰ Page,R.E.& Erickson,E.H. “Identification and Certification of Africanized Honey Bees”. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 78: 149-158 (1985). <http://www.beesource.com/pov/ahb/ahbidentification.htm>

¹¹ Sanford,M.T. “Tracking bee ancestry using DNA”. APIS v12, n7, July 1994. <http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis94/apjul94.htm#2>

¹² Schiff,N.M. & Sheppard,W.S. “Genetic Analysis of Commercial Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from the Southeastern United States”. J. Econ. Entomol. 88(5): 1216 - 1220 (1995). <http://www.beesource.com/pov/ahb/jee1995.htm>

Disclaimer: the above findings/views expressed are the author's own, they do not represent the State and/or University of Florida's official positions.
Copyright © 2002 by Tomas Mozer, all rights reserved.
Copyleft: Verbatim copying of this document is permitted, in any medium, under Design Science License terms and conditions.
(see http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt )

Apiservices - Virtual Beekeeping Gallery - Homepage