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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Descendents of Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Apidae) (the Africanized
honey bee) arrived in the United States in 1990. Whether this was the Þrst introduction is
uncertain. A survey of feral honey bees from non-Africanized areas of the southern United States
revealed three colonies (from Georgia, Texas, and New Mexico) with a diagnostic African mitochondrial
DNA cytochrome b/BglII fragment pattern. To assess maternal origin of these colonies, we
developed a primer pair for ampliÞcation of a cytochrome b fragment and sequenced using internal
sequencing primers. Samples of the three reported honey bee colonies plus another 42 representing
the 10 subspecies known to have been introduced in the United States were sequenced. Of the three
colonies, the colonies from Texas and New Mexico matched subspecies of European maternal
ancestry, whereas the colony from Georgia was of African ancestry. Contrary to expectations, the
mitotype of the latter colony was more similar to that exhibited by sub-Saharan A. m. scutellata than
to the mitotypes common in north African A. m. intermissa Maa or Portuguese and Spanish A. m.
iberiensis Engel. This Þnding was consistent with anecdotal evidence that A. m. scutellata has been
sporadically introduced into the United States before the arrival of the Africanized honey bee from
South America.
Description
Keywords
Africanized honeybee Apis mellifera Mitochondrial DNA Cytochrome b Mitotype
Citation
Pinto, M. Alice; Sheppard, William S.; Johnston, J. Spencer; Rubink, William L.; Coulson, Robert N.; Schiff, Nathan M.; Kandemir, Irfan; Patton, John C. (2007). Honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of african origin exist in non-africanized areas of the Southern United States: evidence from mitochondrial DNA. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. ISSN 0013-8746. 100:2, p. 289-295
Publisher
Entomological Society of America