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A sting in the tail for bee-deck passenger sets quarantine a-buzz
16 November 2000
AQIS Brisbane was a hive of activity recently when an exotic bee jetted its way into the International Airport on a flight from Japan.
The bee suffered the effects of top-of-descent cabin spray during the flight and fell on to a seat, only to give a dying sting to a passenger who sat down in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Though unfortunate for the bee and painful for the passenger, the incident ended up being lucky for Quarantine staff who later identified the bee as Apis mellifera - European honeybee.
AQIS Entomologist Bill Crowe explained that the European honeybee from Japan is a serious insect pest, as it could carry exotic varroa mite.
"This pest was recently introduced into New Zealand, and is causing serious economic damage to beekeepers and horticulture industries there, " Bill said.
This pint-sized illegal immigrant arrived just a few days after AQIS was alerted to a stowaway bee on a pallet of automotive parts that had arrived by air from Malaysia.
In this case the bee turned out to be the exotic giant honeybee, which can be a vector for another nasty parasitic mite.
"The bee was still alive when it was found, but it was obviously suffering from the effects of pre-departure hold spray," Bill said.
"As soon as the discovery was reported, we inspected the area for others but only one bee was found — and fortunately, close examination revealed that it wasn't carrying any parasitic mites.
"If either of these bees were to become established in Australia, they could devastate our valuable honey industry and cause significant damage to agricultural industries that rely on bees for pollination," Bill said.
"Both interceptions show how simple but important measures — like insect sprays on planes, and educating our industry partners to help us out — can have enormously positive results in protecting Australia's agricultural industries and economy."
For more details
Contact: Jacinda Geritz
Phone: (07) 3246 8703
Mobile: 0414 561 295
(Close-up photo of the giant honeybee is available)