Entomology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Entomology, including details on insects, parasites, diseases.

Thrice out of Africa: ancient and recent expansions of the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Whitfield CW, Behura SK, Berlocher SH, Clark AG, Johnston JS, Sheppard WS, Smith DR, Suarez AV, Weaver D, Tsutsui ND

Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, IL 61801, USA. charlie@life.uiuc.edu

We characterized Apis mellifera in both native and introduced ranges using 1136 single-nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in 341 individuals. Our results indicate that A. mellifera originated in Africa and expanded into Eurasia at least twice, resulting in populations in eastern and western Europe that are geographically close but genetically distant. A third expansion in the New World has involved the near-replacement of previously introduced "European" honey bees by descendants of more recently introduced A. m. scutellata ("African" or "killer" bees). Our analyses of spatial transects and temporal series in the New World revealed differential replacement of alleles derived from eastern versus western Europe, with admixture evident in all individuals.

Published 27 October 2006 in Science, 314(5799): 642-5.
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