es have acquired a reputation among the general public that's straight out of a sci-fi movie. Here Winston seeks to restore balance to this picture by examining the biology of the Africanized honey bee and tracing its predicted impact on North American agriculture and beekeeping.

Honeybees are known for their familiar buzzing and honey production. Learn how an experiment meant to increase honey production created aggressive Africanized honeybees that have taken over territory and caused big problems for beekeepers, farmers, and anyone unlucky enough to disturb them.

This book is the first review of the scientific literature on the Africanized honey bee. The African subspecies Apis mellifera scutellata (formerly adansonii) was introduced into South America in 1956 with the intent of cross-breeding it with other subspecies of bees already present in Brazil to obtain a honey bee better adapted to tropical conditions. Shortly after its introduction, some of the African stock became established in the feral population around Sao Paulo, Brazil, and spread rapidly through Brazil. It has since migrated through most of the neotropics, displacing and/or hybridizing with the previously imported subspecies of honey bees. Africanized bees have been stereotype d as having high rates of swarming and absconding, rapid colony growth, and fierce defensivebehavior. As they have spread through the neotropics they have interacted with the human population, disrupting apiculture and urban activities when high levels of defensive behavior are expressed.

At the heart of every bee hive is a queen bee. Since her well-being is linked to the well-being of the entire colony, the ability to find her among the residents of the hive is an essential beekeeping skill. In QueenSpotting, experienced beekeeper and professional “swarm catcher” Hilary Kearney challenges readers to “spot the queen” with 48 fold-out visual puzzles — vivid up-close photos of the queen hidden among her many subjects. QueenSpotting celebrates the unique, fascinating life of the queen bee chronicles of royal hive happenings such as The Virgin Death Match, The Nuptual Flight — when the queen mates with a cloud of male drones high in the air — and the dramatic Exodus of the Swarm from the hive. Readers will thrill at Kearney’s adventures in capturing these swarms from the strange places they settle, including a Jet Ski, a couch, a speed boat, and an owl’s nesting box. Fascinating, fun, and instructive, backyard beekeepers and nature lovers alike will find reason to return to the pages again and again. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.