Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Zombie Bees

Poor bees. First, there's the honeybee colonies collapse disorder, then there's this: a parasite that turns bees into zombies.
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) in California and South Dakota have been observed acting zombielike, wandering away from their hives at night and crawling around blindly in circles.
These insects have been rendered insensate by a parasitizing fly that lays eggs in the bees’ bodies. After the bee dies a lonesome death, pupae crawl out and grow to adult flies that seek new bodies to infect.

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