• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

First "zombie bee" parasite case in Virginia confirmed

Status
Not open for further replies.
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Mysterious-zombie-bee-scourge-reaches-southern-8321040.php

NORFOLK (AP) — The mysterious "zombie bee" parasite that kills honeybees has reached the southern United States after scientists confirmed a case in Virginia about an hour outside Roanoke, researchers announced this week.

The discovery suggests the phenomenon is more widespread than previously thought, although researchers still know little about how many bees it actually kills.

Flies attach themselves to the bees and inject their eggs, causing erratic "zombie-like" behavior in the bees such as flying at night and toward light. The bees often die within hours. Fly larvae burst out of their carcasses days later.

The phenomenon was first discovered in California in 2008 and has spread to states including Oregon, South Dakota and New York. But even as "zombie bees" reach the South, scientists still don't know what role they might play in the pollinator's alarming decline.
Click to expand...

Hafernik said he turned to the nation's beekeepers to lookout for "zombie bees" and report any noticeable patterns. One of them is Lynn Berry, 50, of Collinsville, Virginia, a receiving manager at a mattress and pillow factory who keeps bees as a hobby with his wife and mother-in-law.

Berry learned about "zombie bees" from presentations at local bee clubs. And some of his bees did indeed hover at night around an outdoor garage light before dying.

He put the carcasses in a jar covered with cheese cloth. After maggots emerged days later, he contacted scientists in California, who confirmed that Berry had discovered Virginia's first case.

"My concern is what is going to happen as this spreads more and more," Berry said. "At this point it's kind of sporadic and here and there. But everything starts somewhere. Bees have enough issues as it is."
Click to expand...
 
K

Kurdel

Banned
Imagine a fly large enough to do this to humans.

2 inch large larvae writhing around in your brain making you run around and acting erratically for a few hours until you die.
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
While terrifying at first, it's a solid reminder that even if humans suddenly infected by some zombie disease like this, the whole cannibalism apocalyptic thing would probably have a 1% of happening over creepy sleepwalking like this.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Been a rough decade for bees. Don't leave, we need you.
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
This is why we need access to assault rifles. Let's put down the zombee apocalypse before it moves to humans.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
Buzz, you see,
it's not me.
It's not my
Colony.
In your head,
In your head,
They are flying.

In your heeeeaaaadd
In your heeeaaaeaeadd
Zombee, Zombee, ZombeeEEeeEEeeEE
 
O

OnionPowder

Member
39.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

These bugs come out at nighttime, and attacking victims, they silently kill or leave them with a lifelong infection
33
3K
Happosai replied
  • Locked
USDA study concludes neonics not driving bee deaths: Genetic Literacy Project Article
17
3K
Dragoon En Regalia replied
  • Locked
Zombie Bee are now real. (It is just a matter of time before we are next, isn't it?)
42
4K
FStop7 replied
  • Locked
NYMag: The Uninhabitable Earth - Famine and economic collapse sooner than you think
2 3 4 5
224
32K
AJUMP23 replied
  • Locked
"Zombie" Fly Parasite the cause of those bee disappearances?
23
3K
xbhaskarx replied
Top Bottom