Parasite turns bees into zombies

The parasite eating bee inside, control their behavior, and then emerges from his chest



Bees are officially one of the most feared animals on Earth since they killed Macaulay Culkin in My First Love, but now the level of fear that they cause just went up: in addition to the bees, you can also run into a bee-zombie.

No need to worry if the bee will not turn you into an undead if you contact her. In fact, in this story, the biggest victim is the zombie bug. It all begins when a bee is flying quiet around until suddenly a fly species known for Apocephalus borealis approaches. The animal climbs on the bee their eggs and injects it through a sting in the future zombie chest. From there it gets complicated for the animals that make honey. The larvae begin to control the bees - make them change their habits, and start flying at night - and in the meantime start to devour the animals inside. Before long, the muscles of the wings are eaten, and the bee can not do nothing but crawl the corners. Between 7 and 13 days after the attack Apocephalus, the larvae begin to emerge from the bee thorax. Just like in Alien, Scott Riddle.




The borealis Apocephalus had already been identified in 1924 by entomologist (insect scholar) American Charles Thomas Brues, but at that time it was believed that she acted mainly attacking ants and flies without wings. His relationship with the bees was noticed only in 2012 when the American entomologist John Hafernik also of the University of San Francisco noted that many of the bees that crossed were crawling on the floor. Hafernik separated some specimens and noticed that small flies trying to attack your bees.

Although it was noticed a short time, the parasites already appear to act in an epidemic way. Hafernick states that 80% of the beehives that he analyzed in San Fracisco had been infected. And the problem is not regional. A website, ZomBee Watch, was created to try to document more accurately the number of infected insects. In it, people across the United States find bees suspect have been zumbificadas and send for analysis. More than 800 animal samples have been sent to Hafernik. And the news does not look good for the scenario of bees. "We have no news of any bee that has survived the parasite," he said entomologist to the New York Times.