> Puerto Rican bees showed low defensiveness similar to European bees. In morphology and resistance to mites Africanized bees from Puerto Rico are similar to other Africanized bees. In behavioral assays on mechanisms of resistance to Varroa, we directly observed that Puerto Rican Africanized bees groomed-off and bit the mites as been observed in other studies. In no other location Africanized bees have reduced defensiveness while retaining typical traits such as wing size and mite resistance. This mosaic of traits that has resulted during the invasion of an oceanic island has implications for behavior, evolution, and agriculture.

Rivera-Marchand B, Doskay D, Giray T (2012) Data from: Gentle Africanized bees on an oceanic island. Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/dryad.d6q7q72g

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