ZOMBIE BEES
ZOMBEE Honeybee New Disease Problem
Honey bees that have been parasitized by the Zombie Fly Apocephalus borealis.
The pupae of parasitic flies causes American Honeybees
to fly at night then have jerking spasms before dying.
San Francisco State University biologist John Hafernik
first discovered zombie bees in California in 2008.
A small adult female lands on the back of a honeybee and injects eggs into the bee's abdomen.
The eggs hatch into maggots then basically eat the insides out of the bee.
After consuming their host, the maggots pupate,
forming a hard outer shell that looks like a fat, brown grain of rice.
Adult flies emerge in three to four weeks.
ZOMBIE FLIES resemble fat mosquito's
Core A, Runckel C, Ivers J, Quock C, Siapno T, et al. (2012).
"A new threat to honey bees, the parasitic phorid fly Apocephalus borealis
