Zombees

Zombee Journal

This blog is my photo journal chronicling the steps required to determine if the parasitic fly, Apocephalus borealis, is responsible for the dying bees around my home.

My neighborhood in uptown Whittier is full of flowers and trees and with this, many birds and bees. But for the past five weeks I’ve been recording an extraordinary number of dead bees on the front porch, nothing I’ve ever witnessed in the 4 years I’ve lived at this property. After some research and a lot of help from the knowledgeable and well intentioned community of bee activists on the Backwards Beekeepers site I have been pointed towards a possible cause of these dead bees, Apocephalus borealis.

Bees are usually among the most orderly and industrious species on the planet -- but that sense of teamwork quickly goes out the window when they turn into mindless, suicidal zombies. Researchers in the Bay Area say they've discovered one reason why bees in the region may be experiencing Colony Collapse Disorder -- the presence of a tiny parasitic fly that causes otherwise straight-laced honeybees to lose control and ultimately take their own lives. "It's the flight of the living dead," says one researcher.

Thanks to a member on Backwards Beekeepers form who reached out to me after I posted a thread describing my issue, I am now a part of a research study being done by San Francisco State University on these parasitic insects. The small flies, Apocephalus borealis, are said to lay their eggs on the abdomen of bees, meanwhile chemically altering their behavior -- turning them into 'the living dead' essentially making them incubators for their larvae.

From the Mercury News:

The hapless bees walk around in circles, with no apparent sense of direction. Some are unable to even stand on their legs.

"They kept stretching them out and then falling over," lead investigator and biology professor John Hafernik said. "It really painted a picture of something like a zombie."

Day 1 "Capture" Wednesday (8-1-2012)

Attraction to light in the evening is a behavior described as a Zombee symptom, by SFSU.

The bees were easily gathered as they congregated around the light. They were docile and sluggish and seemed to be mesmerized by the light. The first sample of two bees I contained at approximately 8:30 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, August 1, 2012. They were both living.

Day 2 "Dead Bees" Thursday (8-2-2012)

The bees I had captured the night before are lying lifeless at the bottom of the can and there are more dead bees on the porch. I collect these 11 bees and add them to my collection for observation.

The eggs hatch while the bee is still alive, and maggots start to feed on it from the inside. The maggots eat their way out of the bee and so the container needs to be monitored for up to 14 days to check for the emergence of pupae, immature parasitic flies.

Day 3 "The Wait" Friday (8-3-2012)

Got up this morning and check the state of the bees and still no movement. The two bees that have been in there the longest are only about a day and half dead and the others only half a day. I think I will make the holes on the side of the can a bit smaller only because these flies seem to be very small and if in fact this is what happens they might actually escape through the holes.

Day 13 "Nothing" Aug. 8, 2012

Nothing to report. Fortunately, there are no signs of the phorid fly anywhere. I will collect more samples as they are plentiful and start over just to make sure. The heat here in SoCal has been just about unbearable and thus may have an affect on the outcome, as I left the can in the garage. I will try once more and report back.