Apocephalus borealis
| Apocephalus borealis | |
|---|---|
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| Adult female A. borealis with visible ovipositor alongside grains of sugar for size comparison | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Phoridae |
| Tribe: | Metopininae |
| Genus: | Apocephalus |
| Species: | A. borealis |
| Binomial name | |
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Apocephalus borealis Brues, 1924 |
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Apocephalus borealis is a species of North American parasitoid phorid fly that attacks bumblebees, honey bees, and paper wasps. This parasitoid's genus Apocephalus is best known for the "decapitating flies" that attack a variety of ant species, though A. borealis attacks and alters the behavior of bees and wasps. These flies are colloquially known as zombie flies and the bees they infect are colloquially known as zombees. Association with honey bees has so far only been documented from California, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (Vancouver Island), and Vermont.
This phorid fly is native to North America, attacking bumble bees and paper wasps. The infection of European honey bees in North America by A. borealis is a recent development that was first discovered by Dr. John Hafernik, who collected some dead specimens near a light source at San Francisco State University's campus. These were placed in a vial and forgotten. About a week later larvae emerged from the dead bees. Information is insufficient to explain why the parasitic fly jumped to its new host, but concern exists that this new host provides an opportunity for the fly to thrive and further threaten the decreasing honey bee population. To identify this fly, DNA barcoding was used, demonstrating that the phorids that emerged from Apis and Bombus had no more than 0.2% (1 bp) divergence among samples. What variation was found was from among those phorids reared from honey bees, rather than between flies reared from honey bees versus bumble bees. Other analyses gave similar results, including morphological criteria, sequencing of 18S rRNA genes, and cross-infection of honey bees using phorids that had emerged from both honeybees and bumblebees, thus confirming that the phorids attacking honey bees are the same species as those attacking bumble bees.
To make matters worse for the infected hosts, microarray analyses of honey bees from infected hives reveal that these bees are often infected with deformed wing virus and Nosema ceranae. Unfortunately, both larvae and adult phorids have tested positive for these pathogens, implicating the fly as a potential vector or reservoir host of these honey bee pathogens.A. borealis has also been suggested to be a possible vector promoting the spread of the pathogens responsible for colony collapse disorder.
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Wikipedia