Courtesy of ZomBee Watch
ZomBee Watch
After being parasitized by the Apocephalus borealis fly, infected zombie-like bees abandon their hives and congregate near outside lights, moving in increasingly erratic circles before dying.
In response to this odd phenomenon researchers have launched ZomBeeWatch.org, a citizen science project to report possible sightings of the parasitized bees. The researchers hope to find out how far the parasite has spread and how many honeybee hives might be affected. So far, the Zombie Fly has been found parasitizing honeybees in California and South Dakota. Help researchers determine if the fly has spread to honeybees across North America.
The ZomBeeWatch site asks people to collect bees that appear to have died underneath outside lights, or appear to be behaving strangely under the lights, in a container or in a glassine envelope. They can then watch for signs that indicate the bee was parasitized by the fly, which usually deposits its eggs into a bee's abdomen. About seven days after the bee dies, fly larvae push their way into the world from between the bee’s head and thorax and form brown, pill-shaped pupae that are equivalent to a butterfly’s chrysalis.
Project Details
- PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST: John Hafernik
- SCIENTIST AFFILIATION: San Francisco State University
- DATES: Ongoing
- PROJECT TYPE: Observation
- COST: Free
- GRADE LEVEL: All Ages
- TIME COMMITMENT: Variable
- HOW TO JOIN:
First, create an account. The researcher have also created an online tutorial to educate citizen scientists about the project.
See more projects in Free, Observation, All Ages.
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2 Comments
Add CommentHoneybee scouts often mistake florescent lights for sunlight. Colonies have a group of food finders whose duty it is to search out nutrient sources at the first sign of sunlight. Often, these scouts will be found "zombie-like" at the base of lighted structures.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTheir behavior is due to exhaustion and getting burned by the light source. If fly larvae were causing this disorientation, it appears logical that entire colonies would be found beneath the lights.Raymond Mills-Beekeeper.
Thanks for the comment. You raise good points.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost of the honey bees we find coming to lights arrive well before dawn. In San Francisco, where we have done much of our sampling, we have found fly-parasitized honey bees at light on cold foggy nights, rainy nights and even rare frosty nights in December and January when virtually no other flying insects are active. Not all honey bees at light are infected, however. Some of these uninfected bees may be scout bees, guard bees that have been disturbed in the night or bees that are dealing with other issues. In addition to tracking parasitism of honey bees by Apocephalus. borealis, a goal of ZomBee Watch is to investigate nighttime activity of honey bees outside of their hives, whether the bees are parasitized or not. For this reason, it is important that citizen scientists report samples that are fly-free as well as those that are parasitized.
The number of fly-parasitized bees found stranded under lights near hives is a function of the overall infection rate within a hive. This rate varies widely with time of year and location of a particular hive. If the parasitism rate within a hive is high, one would expect a large number of fly-parasitized bees coming to light. On the other hand, when the parasitism rate is low only a few of fly-parasitized bees would be expected. Citizen scientists can help us by documenting patterns of infection in their area.
John Hafernik