Introductions of the parasitic mite Varroa and the highly defensive Africanized bees has been the most important events in the recent history of apiculture in the Americas. Puerto Rico, as a Carribean island provides an intersting case to study both introductions and their interaction. As in the rest of the US, in Puerto Rico beekeeping that depends on European bees has been severely impacted by the introduction of Varroa in 80s. Although it is difficult to find feral colonies in North America, in Puerto Rico currently there are an estimated 150 000 feral colonies. One possible explanation to this explosion of feral colonies in the presence of Varroa could be intorduction of Africanized bees. This second introduction could be roughly dated to 1994 for Puerto Rico. We examined genetic, morphological, behavioral characteristics of feral bees in Puerto Rico to determine extent of Africanization. We also examined prevalence of Varroa infestation in the same source feral colonies.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis mellifera (Honey bee)
Species 2: Acari Varroidae Varroa jacobsoni
Keywords: Africanized, mtDNA
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