Africanization of a feral honey bee (Apis mellifera) population in South Texas: does a decade make a difference?

ABSTRACT: The arrival to the United States of the Africanized honey bee, a hybrid between European subspecies and the African subspecies Apis mellifera scutellata, is a remarkable model for the study of biological invasions. This immigration has created an opportunity to study the dynamics of secondary contact of honey bee subspecies from African and European lineages in a feral population in South Texas. An 11-year survey of this population (1991-2001) showed that mitochondrial haplotype frequencies changed drastically over time from a resident population of eastern and western European maternal ancestry, to a population dominated by the African haplotype. A subsequent study of the nuclear genome showed that the Africanization process included bidirectional gene flow between European and Africanize

SUBMITTER: Rangel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4782243 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature