Africanized bee
noun
: a honeybee that originated in Brazil as an accidental hybrid between an aggressive African subspecies (Apis mellifera scutellata) and previously established European honeybees and has spread to Mexico and the southernmost U.S. by breeding with local bees producing populations retaining most of the African bee's traits
called also Africanized honeybee, killer bee
Examples of Africanized bee in a Sentence
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Bees in Southern California, originally from Europe, started crossbreeding with Africanized bees in the 1990s, said Orange County beekeeper Mike Henderson.
—
Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2024
Scientists typically refer to them as Africanized bees because the swarm was initiated by Apis mellifera scutellata, an African subspecies of the European honeybee imported to Brazil from South Africa and Tanzania in 1956 to introduce their heat tolerance genes.
—Richard Pallardy, Ars Technica, 30 July 2024
Florida is considered an Africanized bee state.
—Christine Sexton, sun-sentinel.com, 11 Aug. 2021
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Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2024
Scientists typically refer to them as Africanized bees because the swarm was initiated by Apis mellifera scutellata, an African subspecies of the European honeybee imported to Brazil from South Africa and Tanzania in 1956 to introduce their heat tolerance genes.
—Richard Pallardy, Ars Technica, 30 July 2024
Florida is considered an Africanized bee state.
—Christine Sexton, sun-sentinel.com, 11 Aug. 2021
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“Africanized bee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Africanized%20bee. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
Africanized bee
noun
Af·ri·can·ized bee
ˌaf-ri-kə-ˌnīzd- 
: a honeybee that originated in Brazil as an accidental hybrid between an aggressive African subspecies (Apis mellifera scutellata) and previously established European honeybees and has spread to Mexico and the southernmost United States by breeding with local bees producing populations retaining most of the African bee's traits
called also Africanized honeybee, killer bee
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