There are two controversial views about the genetic nature of the Africanized honey bee in the Americas. One view reports that Africanized honey bees have spread by maternal migration of African swarms and the population has retained an African genetic integrity (Taylor 1985, Hall and Muralidharan 1989, Smith et al. 1989). The other one states that hybrid swarms, resulting from paternal gene flow from Africanized drones into European colonies, have expanded throughout the Neotropics, leaving behind a hybrid feral population (Rinderer et al. 1985, Rinderer 1986). It has been suggested that long term studies (encompassing time periods prior to, during and after Africanization) of co-occurring distribution patterns of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA are critical for a better understanding of the Africanization process (Page 1989, Smith 1991a).
In the present study, mitochondrial (mt) DNA and nuclear DNA (microsatellite) markers are used to analyze the genetic interaction between European and Africanized honey bee feral populations, from Welder Wildlife Refuge (San Patricio County, Texas), across a continuous period of 11 years, encompassing pre and post-Africanization.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis mellifera (honey bee)
Keywords: Africanized bees
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA