Beekeepers in the United States have become interested in unmanaged feral colonies for their breeding programs, dubbed ‘survivor stock’ due to their ability to persevere despite the presence of pathogens and parasites 

It is believed that feral colonies of European honey bees in the United States are rare in natural areas due to parasites and pathogens, especially Varroa 

The objective of this study was to characterize the genetic diversity of honey bees from feral colonies and swarms in Utah, USA using DNA sequence data of the COI-COII mtDNA region of A. mellifera. 

The commonness of the A lineage [African] in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and San Diego County, California provides evidence that A lineage honey bees may be well adapted to the arid climate in the southwestern United States. 

The high proportion of AHB from the feral Utah honey bee samples is of importance given the ability of AHB to outcompete native pollinator species in southern Utah, resulting in the local extinction of the Andrenid bee Perdita meconis. This brings a new component to the importance of documenting the occurrence of AHB in Utah and throughout the southern United States. 

Dylan Cleary, & al
Mitochondrial DNA Variation of Feral Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.) from Utah (USA) 
Article in Journal of Apicultural Science · October 2018


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