| Abstract | Africanized honey bees (AHB) have now been in the Americas for 39 years and in the USA for at least four years. The generalized conception is that enormous differences exist between the tropical-evolved Africanized honey bees and the temperate evolved European honey bees (EHB), and many comparative studies have focused on these differences. However, most of the information on Africanized honey bees in the Americas has come from studies or beekeepers' experiences with bees in Latin American countries, during or after the AHB spread through tropical areas. These studies have shown that certain characteristics, predominant within the AHB population, have an adaptive value in the tropics. Readers in temperate areas, where occupation by AHB could occur, may not successfully extrapolate from this information. This article presents a wealth of knowledge about several aspects of AHB biology in subtropical and temperate areas of Argentina, generated during several years of continuous field work, combined with data from subtropical or temperate areas of other parts of the world, which, together, could fill in this gap. |
