Some relevant information: >At the local level, a Fast Africanized Bee Identification System (FABIS) >test can be performed. Starting with a sample of 50 to 100 bees, 10 bees >are randomly sorted. The right wing is removed from each and mounted on >microscope slides, and the average wing length is calculated. If the >average wing length is over 9mm, the bees are European Honey Bees. If the >average wing length is under 9mm, the bees are suspect Africanized Honey >Bees. They are only suspect AHB because there are some Egyptian Honey Bees >in the county that are a domesticated bee but are slightly smaller that >the EHB. Some EHB are also slightly smaller than usual. The FABIS test is >like the TB skin test. If the test is negative, you do not have TB. If the >test is positive, you might have TB but need a more sophisticated test to >be sure. > >If there is a need to know for certain that the sample is AHB or not, >e.g., a multiple stinging incident or death, the sample is sent to the >California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) for further testing. >They can perform either a DNA, or complete morphometrics test. The DNA >test compares the DNA from the sample to known DNA standards to determine >whether the bees are AHB or not. This test can be done on a small sample >size but not if the bees were killed with certain pesticides. The >chemicals used to kill the bees interfere with the test. Complete >morphometrics can be used when the sample is contaminated with pesticides. >Complete morphometrics is a series of very precise measurements of various >parts of the bees in the sample. Some involve lengths of specific body >parts, some involve the angles of wing veins. These measurements are then >averaged and compared to a standard. A complete morphometrics test >requires a larger sample size than the DNA test. Both tests are quite >accurate and are considered the final word in AHB determination. http://acwm.co.la.ca.us/scripts/AHB.htm#first -------------------------------------- Hybridization between European and Africanized honeybees in tropical Yucatan, Mexico. II. Morphometric, allozymic and mitochondrial DNA variability in feral colonies excerpts: >The feral colonies in this study showed evidence of much introgression of >European genes, even 10 years after the first report of an Africanized >feral colony in the Yucatan. In contrast, the first feral colonies >collected from this region of Mexico in 1988 seemed to have practically no >evidence of European gene introgression, but 5 years later and onwards the >presence of European genes has been clear in feral bees. > >As the present data suggest, hybridization between Africanized/European >colonies in the tropics can occur provided sufficient European colonies >exist in an area to counterbalance the rapid population growth of >Africanized colonies. A common scenario in South and Central American >countries has been a complete and rapid elimination of managed European >colonies with little introgression of European markers in the feral gene >pool [7, 28]. South American countries had very small resident European >populations compared with the large commercial populations found in SE Mexico. > >Recent studies also provide support for the hypothesis that variation in >European gene introgression in feral populations has been due to numerical >differences between managed European colonies and feral Africanized colonies. > >Probably a combination of all these factors has played a role in >determining that 10 years after the arrival of Africanized honeybees in >Yucatan, feral colonies in this area of Mexico still show evidence of >mixed European/African composition, as indicated by morphological, >isozymic and DNA markers. This evidence suggests that introgressive >hybridization rather than complete replacement is the most parsimonious >hypothesis to explain Africanization in Yucatan, most likely due to the >presence of a large population of resident European bees.