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

Recent Examples on the Web

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

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above

Medical 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