Talk:Africanized bee

Wasps vs. honeybees

Removed the two tips below because they apply to wasps, not to honeybees (Africanized or otherwise). 1) Honeybees do not nest in the ground. 2a) Honeybees very, very rarely seek out sodas. The carbonation, acids and other ingredients make them very unattractive to honeybees. 2b) Even if a honeybee were trapped, it would not sting to get out of the soda can because the act of stinging will kill the bee. Honeybees sting to defend the queen or the hive. They almost never sting while foraging.

If anyone is interested, these comments can be pasted into the appropriate article about wasps. Rossami

Inspect before Mowing

The low freqency sounds of an engine driven mower can be especially disturbing to bees. Look around for swarms or nests before starting. Yellowjackets will often nests in holes in dry ground.

Take care of Soda

People are often stung on the lips or throat (a potentially dangerous sting) when returning to a neglected can of soda pop. Often a bee or wasp will enter the can and be unable to exit.

These are yellow jackets, not bees. Here is more information: http://goodbugpage.org/wonderful_wasps5.htm Pollinator 02:53, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Shouldn't this entire section go in a separate article? Bee stings don't apply just to Africanized bees. neckro 22:57, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Scutellata versus adansonii

Could somebody cite which lives in Africa? Is adansonii just the hybrid sub-species of the americas?

My error. The andansonii sub species is listed as one of the sub-saharan species listed here (in German)

Some exerpted bablefish translation:

... today's level of knowledge is to eight distinguish eight bee races south of the Sahara:

Apis mellifera adansonii

Apis mellifera capensis

Apis mellifera litorea

Apis mellifera monticola

Apis mellifera nubica

Apis mellifera scutellata

Apis mellifera unicolor

Apis mellifera jemenitica.

...We wanted to become acquainted with naturally the Scutellata still more exactly, because this bee was the most wide-spread bee in seen in Africa. Indeed is assumed that the A. m. adansonii is possibly identical with the A. m. scutellata, or at least a variety of this race.

If anyone can read German a summary of the article would be useful, as this seems to be zeroed in on the issue.

As far as I have heard, the Tanzanian variety in question is a. m. scutellata. The andansonii reference has been removed for now. Note that several web dictionaries may be inaccurate in their entries. I will try to contact the local club international super expert for more info. Leonard G. 16:40, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I read it in german. It's exactly like you said or translated. Brother Adam didn't know either. He didn't have the tools that we have now in terms of genetically identifying a subspecies. The new gene identification tools may bring some changes. Maybe somebody already knows more than Brother Adam about what the difference is between scutellata and adansonii. User:Shoefly

Stinger?

Weren't they more dangerous because their stinger didn't have a barb on it, letting them sting repeatedly? While regular bees could only sting once, and died ripping their abdomen off because their stinger had a barb that kept it stuck into skin. 207.112.55.242 (talk) 23:04, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

• No, they're just bees with different aggression genetics. You're thinking of wasps. Invasive Spices (talk) 15:41, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Honey bees cross breed

Why is the cross breeding of the European honey bee with the African honey bee not identified as the European Killer Bees? 2601:643:897F:4AA0:7C90:CA8D:3667:844E (talk) 01:48, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Hi, I realize that this topic was started a few years ago, it is my understanding that this name is due to the genetic and behavioral changes that happen during hybridization. The vast majority of the Scutelatta genes are preserved whereas the european genes are lost and the africanized bees retain the aggressive behaviors of Scutelatta and the habits of nest usurpation as well as their swarming schedule. TLDR they are behaviorally and genetically more similar to the african bees than the european bees. Keatchison (talk) 02:14, 24 February 2023 (UTC)

Genetics

I am confused as to the formatting of the genetics section, I feel like it needs to be reformatted for clarity of what africanized bees are (hybrids) with a brief history of the western European honey bee and the south African honey bee. But I feel like the western variant section does not belong in this article and belongs either in an Apis Mellifera page which describes or lists the 25 (or 26?) apis mellifera subspecies, or the western honey bee page itself. I also think that there needs to be more clarity on the hybridization of the genome (which is part of why they have the name "africanized"). Would anyone object to me overhauling this topic, I have several sources pulled together for a paper that I am currently writing and could fix this section up in the coming weeks. Keatchison (talk) 02:10, 24 February 2023 (UTC)