What happened to the killer bees?

Bees in recent years has become the darling of the insect world. Hardly a day goes by that I do not see an article promoting their wonders and the extra care society should do to do protect them and their habitat (ban insecticides, raise pollinator gardens, and allow clovers and dandelions to thrive in yards). Native plants in the landscape have been promoted for their ecological benefit to bees even though the bees raised for honey are not native to North America. But then, there is the fear factor when we see a swarm of bees looking for a new home — fear that they may attack anything that gets in their way. Or my kids might get stung if the neighbors have a bee hive. Horror movies have been made about swarms of bees harming people, such as The Swarm released in 1979, a story about a task force trying to stop killer bees from invading Texas. Of course, the movie was based on some truth — African bees had escaped from captivity in South America and were moving northward to the U.S. These bees were aggressive and there were tales that they were attacking people even when unprovoked. These myths expanded to stories of people being stung to death giving them the name "killer bees." Besides the fear factor, the industry was concerned that these invading bees would displace the desirable honey bees. Well, they did eventually make it to Texas in the early 1990s, but the disaster did not occur, so what happened to the killer bees? Recently, Ohio State University Extension Specialists and others addressed this question. In July 2024, The Ohio State University Entomology Department received a phone call regarding an "Africanized honey bee" colony from a Hamilton County beekeeper. The beekeeper bought a few feral colonies from another beekeeper and experienced one of the colonies being more "aggressive" than the others. He concluded that these were "Africanized honey bees," a.k.a, "killer bees," put a net around the colony preventing their escape, and sent us a few dozen bees for identification. After he sent the specimens to us, he killed the colony! Keep in mind there are seven species of honey bees (Apis spp.) worldwide. The western honey bee, aka European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most well-known for its role in honey production and agriculture. The only other domesticated bee is the eastern honey bee (Apis cerana) native to south and southeast Asia. While only the genus Apis includes true honey bees, other bee species have been managed for honey production. Stingless bees from the genus Melipona are widely managed in the neotropics. A few other stingless bees in the genus Tetragonula, have been managed for centuries to nest inside clay pots in Sri Lanka to allow the collection of honey that is particularly important in ayurvedic medicine. However, the common name, "honey bee" in the United States refers to the single species, Apis mellifera, which was introduced in early 1600, and is now called the "Western honey bee." It is believed that the species originated in Africa and Asia, and it has been managed for the production of beeswax and honey. Human activity has moved this species throughout the world, except in Antarctica. There are 6 subspecies of A. mellifera recognized in the United States and Canada, namely the German black bee (Apis mellifera mellifera), the Spanish honey bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis), the Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica), the Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) and the Caucasian honey bee (Apis mellifera caucasica). Being subspecies, all of these bees can successfully interbreed; thus, the US population of bees shares a mixed genetic background. In Africa, there are 12 subspecies of A. mellifera that have been recognized so far. One of the subspecies is A. mellifera scutellata, commonly known as the East African lowland honey bee, found in southern and eastern regions of Africa. African honey bee colonies have a higher rate of colony growth, reproduction, and swarming. For these reasons, as well as Western honey bee's failure to adapt to tropical regions, led Brazilian scientists to import African bees to Brazil in 1956 to improve honey production. The African honey bees respond more quickly than western honey bees when hives are disturbed and send four times more workers in defense. Somehow, a few queens escaped and mated with local western honey bee drones in Brazil and produced a hybrid, now called the Africanized honey bee. After the escape, the hybridized African honey bee population in Brazil gradually expanded into northern parts of the Americas, arriving in the southern U.S. in 1990. It has been found that the Africanized bees mated with our bees, making them less aggressive. Today, there is no pure African honey bees that can be found in a population, and it is virtually impossible to distinguish our honey bee from an African bee without genetic testing or rigorous morphometric analysis. The press and ecologists were wrong about the danger Killer Bees would bring to an area. In summary, while Africanized honey bees can display more defensive behavior, aggression varies widely among individual colonies. Factors such as environment, management practices, and breeding play a significant role in their behavior. Like other bees, Africanized honey bees usually only become aggressive when they feel threatened. They are more likely to defend their hive vigorously, but they don't seek out humans to attack. Experienced beekeepers can manage Africanized bees effectively. With proper techniques, they can coexist with these bees and even benefit from their honey production. While Africanized honeybees can be more resilient in certain environments, many factors influence competition among bee species. Diversity in local ecosystems is crucial for overall bee health. So, to answer the question, whatever happen to the killer bees? They assimilated with the western honey bees to a point that there is not any known pure population of African honeybees in the US. But what about the bees in Hamilton County? It turned out that they were not Killer Bees, but an aggressive colony of western honey bees. So, for now, the only killer bees to be concerned about are in the movies. Happy Halloween! Ed Lentz is agriculture and natural resources educator with Ohio State University Extension Office Hancock County.