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'Killer bee' is a name invented by the sensationalist media. They are more properly called Africanized honey bees.

The honey bee more usually found in America is the Western, or European, honey bee (apis mellifera mellifera), but this is not at its best in tropical regions so in the 1950s there was research into finding a strain of honey bee that would better tolerate high temperatures. At a research station in south-east Brazil in 1957, 26 Tanzanian honey bee queens (apis mellifera scutellata) accidentally escaped. These mated with local drones and their offspring have slowly spread northwards to the southern United States, being first found in Texas in 1990, and southwards to the edge of tropical South America. They don't tolerate cold weather very well, and this may limit their further spread.

Despite the reputation given to them by the media, they look no different from a Western honey bee, and their sting is no worse. However, they are less docile and more ready to protect their hive by stinging -- hence their reputation.

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16y ago

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