Honeybee usurpation is a rare, aggressive phenomenon where a summer swarm invades an established, healthy colony, kills the reigning queen, and takes over the hive resources. The invader queen is accepted, and the colony rapidly adopts the new genetic makeup. It is associated with Africanized bees but can occur in European colonies.
Key Characteristics and Process:
- Rapid Takeover: Invasion often happens quickly, sometimes in less than 30 minutes.
- Violent Takeover: Fighting between the invader and host bees occurs, though the invading swarm usually prevails.
- Queen Replacement: The host queen is killed, often by being balled by the invading workers.
- Signs: A swarm landing on a hive, especially near the entrance, and fighting at the hive entrance.
- Outcome: The attacking colony takes over the hive, honey stores, and brood, with the new queen replacing the old one.
The good thing is usurpation behavior is not widely known to occur in European bees.
References
Honey bee Suite: Usurpation: when one colony takes over another (nd)
TheBeeMD: Usurpation https://idtools.org/thebeemd/index.cfm?packageID=1180&entityID=8523