Parasitic flies turn bees into zombies

In addition to the threat of poisonous viruses and fungi, North American honey bees also met the crystal carving that turned them into flying corpses.

Experts at San Francisco State University (USA) have announced the study of a macabre phenomenon in nature: honey bees with parasitic flies turned into flying corpses. Immediately after approaching honeybees, female flies Apocephalus borealis inject eggs into the victim's abdomen. Fly larvae after eating off the organs in the chest area of ​​the bees will hollow out this poor organism and get out. Observed in the laboratory, for 7 days up to 25 fly larvae appeared in the area from head to chest. In fact, no more than 13 larvae survived until the end of the host. But this is still not the worst part.

He is attacked by an A.borealis - (Photo: Univ. State San Francisco)

Before the flies cut the bee's body out, the bee began to act differently. A bee near to death often sits still, but those who have not yet reached that stage appear disoriented and often crawl around but cannot stand up.'They kept stretching their legs and falling off ,' PLoS One quoted Andrew Core, who was studying a master's degree in biology at San Francisco State University, Core and colleagues found almost only honey bees leaving the sword At night, people infected with the dangerous parasite, and larvae in the bees near to death are deep in the honeycomb, suggesting that A.borealis can proliferate inside the nest and most likely In addition, infected bees often leave the nest and gather near the light, Core's group has not determined whether it is a mandatory action or to protect the herd in the face of risk of transmission. infection spreads.

The US team has now found signs of A.borealis at 24 of the 31 locations in San Francisco Bay, as well as the beehives raised in California and South Dakota. Genetic tests showed that some bees and flies were infected by the Nosema ceranae virus and fungus , a suspected culprit that caused the colony disorder syndrome (CCD), which caused the bee population to decline. wide area in North America. Experts hope to find an answer to the disorder soon if further research is conducted.