The Exotic Bee Threat

Lee Allan, Marc Poole and Darryl Hardie

(Agriculture Western Australia)

The purpose of this information sheet is to promote an awareness of the potential entry of exotic bees within the shipping industry.

Background

The beekeeping industry is a small but important industry in Western Australia, which contributes about $7,000,000 directly into the economy from bee products. However, the full value of both managed and feral honey bees to agricultural/horticultural industries in Western Australia is estimated to be worth $90 million annually in W.A. as many crops are dependent on bees for pollination.

The local apiary industry is free of most major bee pests and diseases and is protected by quarantine and surveillance measures. Exotic bees can carry pests and diseases which have the potential to devastate our beekeeping industry. Therefore all foreign bees, including those from the eastern states, must be considered a serious threat.

Bees that are A high risk

Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) is a tropical bee from Asia that has now spread to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Asian honeybee will readily nest on ships and cargo such as containers and pipes. There have been three known incursions of Apis cerana in recent years, Darwin in May 1998, South Australia in June 1996 and Brisbane in April 1995.

Apis cerana is characterised by its distinct yellow and black bands on the abdomen of worker bees, while drones are totally black in colour. Apis cerana is slightly smaller than the domestic honeybee and it's nest and cell size is similar to the domestic honeybee only smaller in size.

African honeybee (Apis scutelata) has aggressive defence characteristics and has caused several deaths in humans and domestic animals. It was accidentally introduced into Brazil in 1958, where it interbred with the local bees and retained the aggressive characteristics of the African species. It is now called the Africanised 'killer' bee and it has since migrated to the United States of America, despite major attempts to prevent it's spread.

There have been two incursions of the African honeybee at the port of Fremantle which originated from Durban in South Africa. One in 1994 when an abandoned nest was found on a container and the other in February 1997, where a nest of live bees was also found on a container, both were destroyed. Apis scutelata is slightly smaller than the domestic honeybee and in all other respects is visually indistinguishable. Identification is made possible by measuring the veins on the bee wings. The nest is of similar size to domestic honeybees, but the cell size is slightly smaller which can be used for positive identification. Because Apis scutelata and other exotic bees are similar to the local honeybee, all bees on cargo and near ports must be considered a threat.