Photo by John Hafernik/SF State University
No, it’s not the title of a new B-Horror movie (Bee Movie?). Zombie bees are a real thing. A recent article from Scientific American explains how parasitizing flies — Apocephalus borealis — have been laying eggs in honeybees and turning them into zombies. The “zombified” bees then fly out of the hive at night with seemingly no destination. They end up dying and their bodies then release pupae that grow into adult flies.
The problem which was first noticed in honeybees earlier this year had only been known to infect bumble bees and paper wasps previously. The appearance of these parasitizing flies in honeybees came as quite a surprise and is thought to be a very new thing. Scientists are not sure how widespread the problem is so they have even set up a new web site to track zom-bees: zombeewatch.org.
For more information or to read the full article, please visit Are Zombie Bees Infiltrating Your Neighborhood?
Freaky! Have you found any evidence of this in your hive?
No, I haven’t noticed any evidence of this yet, however I haven’t done the whole “test at night with a light near the hive” thing, so I can’t be sure.
My thoughts exactly… Freaky! I hope for our sake in Ontario we don’t have to deal with yet another pest.
I might have them as I am across the pond from this bee laboratory. So far, I haven’t noticed the zombie apocalypse in my bee yard yet!
[…] that none of the remaining Honey Bees fly up to the porch light tonight or it could mean – Zombie Bees! #gallery-1515-2 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1515-2 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; […]