‘Zombee’ count grows in B.C.
Two more cases of zombie bees have been documented in B.C. — but a provincial hive inspector says fears of the phenomenon are overblown.
Cases of “zombees,” which are infected by a killer parasite, have been confirmed in Metchosin and Steveston, according to a website tracking the parasite’s spread.
The first Canadian case of zombees was confirmed in Lantzville, near Nanaimo, in July.
The bees are infected by the parasite apocephalus borealis. The “zombie fly” injects its eggs into a honeybee’s abdomen. The larvae grow inside the bee, feeding on its muscles.
Affected bees appear disoriented, flying into lights at night. After they die, maggots erupt from their bodies, said John Hafernik, a biologist with San Francisco State University.
However, there are much bigger threats to honeybee colonies that deserve attention, said Wendi Gilson, an apiary inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Dragonflies kill more bees than this parasite does — so do songbirds grabbing a few bees for lunch,” she said. More pressing concerns for honeybee colonies include environmental degradation, pesticide use, varroa mites and a lack of food due to agricultural shifts like the growth of monoculture — the planting of a single crop, which often doesn’t feed bees.
With fewer food sources, honeybees are more vulnerable when its favourite foods, such as blackberries and fireweed, produce less nectar in a season. That happened this season.
“There’s virtually no honey crop at all this year on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands,” Gilson said. “But we still have huge fruit and vegetable harvests, which means there was really good pollination. And we have the bees to thank for that.
“So I think in return, we should plant things for them to last through all the seasons.”