The first zombie bees have been detected in New York.
While the parasitized bees have been well documented on the West Coast, particularly in the state of California, it wasn’t until 2013 that the first infected bee was detected in the East — a discovery made by a beekeeper in Burlington, Vermont.
But now, it appears as if the “zombees” have made it to New York, as a citizen science project known as ZomBee Watch recently reported the first sighting of a honeybee infected by the zombie fly Apocephalus borealis.
The zombie flies are believed to attack bees while they forage and when they strike, they pierce their abdomens in order to deposit their eggs. As a result, the bees are rendered insensate and in a bizarre zombie-esque fashion, they wander away from their hives at night and crawl blindly in circles. When they die, all alone, the pupae crawl out of their corpses and grow into adult flies, who then hunt for more victims to infect.
The first confirmed case was reported just weeks ago after amateur beekeeper Joe Naughton of Hurley, New York found one just north of New York City in Hudson Valley — a sighting which marked the first of two in the state.
While researchers are searching for a link between zombified honey bees and colony collapse disorder, San Francisco State University (SFSU) biology professor John Hafernik, who started the ZomBee Watch project back in 2012, is quick to note that they’re “not making a case that this is the doomsday bug for bees,” however, “it is certainly an interesting situation where we have a parasite that seems to affect the behavior of bees and has them essentially abandoning their hive.”
We’re not making a case that this is the doomsday bug for bees (…) But it is certainly an interesting situation where we have a parasite that seems to affect the behavior of bees and has them essentially abandoning their hive.
