Bee News

‘Zombie Bee’ scourge reaches Virginia

As if beekeepers didn’t have more to worry about. There’s a fly that is laying it’s eggs on honeybees, which in turn kills the bee.

Flies attach themselves to the bees and inject their eggs, causing erratic “zombie-like” behavior in the bees such as flying at night and toward light. The bees often die within hours. Fly larvae burst out of their carcasses days later.

“We’re trying to answer some of these questions about how important this is,” said John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University who studies “zombie bees.” ”We don’t know whether it’s a major player in honeybee decline or a minor actor in a B-movie.”

Read more from the article from The Associated Press: Mysterious ‘zombie bee’ scourge reaches southern US