This year for the first time I have noticed several honeybees flying at
lights at night just like scarabs or the hundreds of other insects that
are attracted to them. I first saw several honeybees running at the
rather dim light on the side of the USDA greenhouse here in Gainesville,
FL almost every night I have gone to check on my plants and psyllids.
The other experience I had recently has been several of the nights I
have gone down to the gas station at Micanopy to find scarabs and moths
for a couple of other projects I have going. At that location, there
was just one bee but it was very aggressively flying at the wall over
and over again - falling down, and then flying back at the wall. A
couple of times when I approached the wall to photograph a moth, the bee
seemed to come after me - but I made a quick enough escape so I am not
sure. Actually, a few nights ago it did land on my thumb (the thumb
having not been near the wall at the time, about 3 feet away) and
appeared interested in stinging, but again I evaded attack.
Has anyone seen this kind of behavior in honeybees? Is this something
that's increased over time, as I have been going to a LOT of lights for
insects at night for many years (for almost 10 years here in the
Gainesville area, including the Micanopy light) but have never seen a
single honeybee at one until this year.
--
Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
