ZomBees!

San Francisco State University Biology Professor John Hafernik will describe how he serendipitously discovered that a small native fly, Apocephalus borealis, has begun parasitizing European honey bees. Parasitized bees show the "zombie-like behavior" of leaving their hives at night on "a one-way flight of the living dead." They soon die and give rise to as many as 16 maggots that pupate and hatch into more zombie flies. How widespread is the threat to honey bees from the fly? To find out, Hafernik launched a new citizen science website, ZomBeeWatch.org, to enlist the general public and beekeepers from throughout the U.S. and Canada in a "zombee" hunt. ZomBee Watch endeavors to determine how big a role, if any, the fly plays in Colony Collapse Disorder. Will it lead to a "zombee" apocalypse for honey bees; or is it a small bit player in a bee horror movie? Come find out!