Africanized honeybees ("Killer" bees)
Africanized honeybees ("Killer" bees)
- The first honeybees were brought to North and South America by European settlers in the 1600s.
In the 1950s, researchers brought African honeybees to Brazil to improve beekeeping. The more aggressive Africanized bees hybridized with European bees. Africanized honeybees have been known to take over established bee colonies by entering them and killing the resident queen to develop their own queen. Every country in South and Central America now has established populations of Africanized honeybees. The first natural colony of Africanized honeybees was found in the United States in 1990 near Hidalgo, Texas.