Tuesday, May 12, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.
Concerned that Africanized honey bees may be lured farther north by favorable weather and enticing flora, the state has placed an additional 14 bee traps between Las Vegas and Laughlin along the Colorado River Basin and adjacent mountains.
That brings the total number of traps between the two cities to 25, state Division of Agriculture spokeswoman Amanda Getzoff said Monday.
Two swarms of the so-called "killer bees" were discovered last month, one in shrubbery at the Ramada Express hotel-casino in Laughlin, 90 miles south of Las Vegas, and another south of Big Bend, near Laughlin at the southern tip of the state.
There have been no confirmed sightings of the aggressive bees in the Las Vegas Valley, said Getzoff.
"We're taking a proactive approach to the problem," Getzoff said Monday. "We're going under the assumption they're going to move up through the (Colorado) river valley."
The nearest trap to Las Vegas is at the Boulder City sewage treatment facility.
Other traps have been placed at Burro Wash south of Willow Beach, the Hoover Dam, Nelson's Landing, Christmas Tree Pass and throughout the Newberry Mountains near Cottonwood Cove.
Before the new traps were set, the trap lines stopped at Nelson's Landing, according to Tom Smigel, regional manager of the Division of Agriculture.
The bee traps resemble large fish bait buckets, made of rough cardboard and designed to allow swarms to begin honeycomb production.
The queen makes the trap her home as well, according to Smigel, who was to attend a Laughlin Town Advisory Board meeting today to discuss the Africanized bee situation and answer questions.
In order to attract a specific type of bee to the traps, a small tube containing "pheromone" of the honey bee queen is wired to the inside wall of the trap.
Pheromone is a chemical substance secreted by certain animals that conveys information to others of the same species.
Agriculture Administrator Paul Iverson said a part-time person has been hired to help monitor the traps.
The Africanized honey bees, so similar in detail to European honey bees that it takes a computer analysis to distinguish the differences, were imported by scientists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in South America for experimentation.
In 1956 a swarm escaped and the species has been moving north ever since.
They first were seen in this country in Texas in 1990.
A migrating swarm was detected in October 1994 in a pipe at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in California's Riverside County and near the Colorado River outside Yuma, Ariz.
Their arrival in Southern Nevada has been anticipated for several years.
The killer bee is very defensive when humans or animals approach its hives and will attack with little provocation.
While its sting is no more venomous than that of a European honey bee, it attacks in greater numbers and will follow its target for longer distances, resulting in a larger number of stings that can be fatal.
Getzoff said people should not panic.
She said "killer" bee is a misnomer. They are no more likely to swarm and cause injury than hornets, fire ants or other aggressive insects who are threatened and there no more deaths attributed to the bees than other stinging insects.
"When climatic conditions allow, Africanized honey bees are able to migrate northward,"Iverson said. "The heavy rains and cooler weather brought by El Nino have increased the nectar- and pollen-producing plants, which may have allowed these bees to survive on their move north."
Experts say the killer bee can be thwarted with a simple home solution.
Control of honey bee swarms can be achieved easily by using a spray of soap and water, said one authority. The suggested ratio is one cup of dish-washing detergent in a gallon of water.
Officials say the Africanized honey bees have not been a major public health threat in Texas and other locations and are not expected to be a major threat in Nevada.
According to the "Nevada Africanized Honey Bee Management Plan," which was printed in 1994, there will in all probability be an increase in stinging incidents but "few deaths from mass stingings are expected."
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