Apis mellifera genome sequencing (scutellata-European hybrid honey bees)

Individual whole-genome sequences for 278 Apis mellifera. In this population genomics study, we compared evolutionary outcomes of the scutellata-European hybrid honey bee invasion in North and South America. Scutellata-European hybrid honey bees (also known as 'Africanized' honey bees or 'AHB') rapidly spread out of Brazil starting in the 1950s and are a genetic mixture of Apis mellifera scutellata, a subspecies native to lowland southern and eastern Africa, and multiple previously-imported Apis mellifera subspecies from Europe. We collected freely-foraging honey bees in 2018 from transects across the present scutellata-to-European ancestry transition (hybrid) zones in California and Argentina. Samples from Argentina were provided by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), Argentina.