Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The expansion of Africanized honeybees from South America to the southwestern United States in 50
years is considered one of the most spectacular biological invasions yet documented. In the American
tropics, it has been shown that during their expansion Africanized honeybees have low levels of introgressed
alleles from resident European populations. In the United States, it has been speculated, but not shown,
that Africanized honeybees would hybridize extensively with European honeybees. Here we report a
continuous 11-year study investigating temporal changes in the genetic structure of a feral population
from the southern United States undergoing Africanization. Our microsatellite data showed that (1) the
process of Africanization involved both maternal and paternal bidirectional gene flow between European
and Africanized honeybees and (2) the panmitic European population was replaced by panmitic mixtures
of A. m. scutellata and European genes within 5 years after Africanization. The post-Africanization gene
pool (1998–2001) was composed of a diverse array of recombinant classes with a substantial European
genetic contribution (mean 25–37%). Therefore, the resulting feral honeybee population of south Texas
was best viewed as a hybrid swarm.
Description
Keywords
Africanized honeybee Hybridization Assignment test Gene flow Microsatellites
Citation
Pinto, M. Alice; Rubink, William L.; Patton, John C.; Coulson, Robert N.; Johnston, J. Spencer ( 2005). Africanization in the United States: Replacement of Feral European Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) by an African Hybrid Swarm. Genetics. ISSN 1943-2361. 170, p. 1653–1665
Publisher
The Genetics Society of America