Killer bees pushing northward
Killer bees pushing northward in state

By John David Sutter

Published: May 23, 2008

A hybrid strain of Africanized honeybees — which swarm by the thousands and are highly defensive — were spotted this spring in Stillwater, leading a local scientist to suggest the bees continue to buzz their way northward in the state.

Bees of this type hadn't been seen previously as far north as Payne County, where workers at the Renaissance School in Stillwater spotted them in late April, clustered on playground equipment outside a preschool.

No one was hurt by the bees, said Lori Crosby, school owner.

Africanized honeybees look much like their more common European relatives.

They travel in large groups, and they're known to swarm if threatened.

Their stings can be deadly in large numbers.

The bees typically swarm during this part of the spring season, before the weather gets too hot and while rains have subsided a bit, said Rick Grantham, an entomologist at Oklahoma State University.

Grantham said the bees were brought from Africa to South America hundreds of years ago, and since that time steadily have been cruising north. They reached Texas in 1990, and in 2004 they first showed up in far southwest Oklahoma, he said.

Since then, he said, sightings of the bees have been confirmed in more than 31 counties.

In April 2007, Africanized honeybees killed a horse in Comanche, he said. A month later a small dog in Apache was stung to death by a swarm.

He didn't know they were an Africanized hybrid, and said he sprayed them with insecticides without wearing a protective bee suit.

"I didn't have a bee suit on, but we do have bee suits,” Coleman said. "I didn't figure they were killer bees because they had never been found (this far north in Oklahoma), but I know I will wear one in the future, that's for sure.”

The bees were clumped together in a big ball, about 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall, he said.

After the bees were exterminated without incident, they went to Oklahoma State University for tests to see if they were Africanized honeybees or just the more common, less aggressive variety from Europe.

Grantham, who did the tests, said the bees had DNA from Africanized honeybees, but their wings and legs looked more like European honeybees. That suggests they were hybrids, he said.

Since it's hard to tell the bees apart just by looking, Grantham said it's best to look for the swarm. If the bees are clumped together by the thousands, then leave them alone and they should go away in a day or so, he said.

The bees fly in groups, looking for a new place to live after a previous hive has become too crowded, he said. A single queen leads the massive pack of drones on the search for a new home, he said.

If the bees don't go away, or start setting up a hive near your home, you may want to call an exterminator or the state Agriculture Department, which can track down "swarm collectors” who would want to keep the bees alive for their honey, he said.

"Most of the crops in the U.S. are pollinated by honeybees,” he said. "No honeybees, no pollination, no fruit, no food.”

Grantham said it's not clear the effect the new Africanized bees will have on the pre-existing bee populations here.

"I will tell you something I know from Arizona (where the bees colonized years before coming to Oklahoma) ... They do not have any feral honeybees left in Arizona — they were totally displaced.”

Beekeepers will tell you this is definitely a bad thing.

"They like the more tame bees,” he said. "We don't want Africanized bees around here; we don't even want them anywhere in Oklahoma because of their defensiveness.”

And when they are at their most defensive, he said, people can die from their stings.

"They are more defensive (than other bees) and they will go after you with a vengeance ...they will chase you for a quarter mile,” he said.

"Run as fast as you can, as far as you can,” he said. "If you can get indoors, get indoors. If a few bees get in with you, so be it.”

Contributing: Staff Writer Johnny Johnson

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