> African queens were propagated through queen rearing and artificial insemination and distributed widely among beekeepers in southern Brazil; the progeny of these queens also contributed to the feral population. Unfortunately, the African bees did not live up to their reputation for honey production, and many of the same characteristics that have proven so successful in the wild are highly undesirable for bee management. Interestingly, the Africanized bees that have colonized tropical regions of Latin America have remained virtually identical in their physical and behavioral traits to the originally introduced bees.

> The reputation of Africanized bees as good honey producers in tropical habitats comes from their ability to collect more honey than European bees under conditions of poor, dispersed honeyflows. Under these conditions, no colony will collect a lot of honey, but Africanized colonies have been found to at least maintain their weight, and possibly show slight weight gains, compared to European colonies that will slowly lose weight and starve. The problems for bee management result from what Africanized bees do with their work (swarm), their extreme sensitivity to subtle changes in nectar and pollen in the field (resulting in absconding), and their intense defense of their stored resources.

THE BIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES
Mark L. Winston  Annu. Rev. Entomol. 1992.37:173-93

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