Tracking a Parasite That Turns Bees Into Zombies
Call it "The Buzzing Dead." Infestations of what scientists have dubbed "zombie bees" have spread across both the West and East coasts in recent years.
The honeybee hordes, while not actually undead, are the unwilling hosts to a parasite infection that researchers think drives the drones to act erratically, or "zombielike," in the moments before they die.
就叫牠是「嗡嗡飛舞的蜂屍。」近年來，科學家稱為「殭屍蜜蜂」的病蟲害已在美國東西兩岸地區蔓延開來。
這些蜂群的成員雖不是真正的殭屍，卻很無奈地成了寄生蟲感染病的宿主，而研究人員認為這種疾病會使雄蜂在死前一段時間行為怪異，「有如殭屍」。
To better understand the parasitized swarms, John Hafernik, an entomologist at San Francisco State University has recruited people countrywide to join his hunt.
"The big question for us was, 'Is this a San Francisco thing?' Or something that is taking place all over the country that has not been noticed by biologists before," he said.
為了對寄生蟲群體有更多了解，舊金山州立大學昆蟲學家約翰．哈福尼克已廣邀全美各地有志之士加入他的追蹤行動。
他說：「對我們來說，最重要的問題是『這情形僅限於舊金山？』抑或它是正在全國各地發生，卻從未被生物學家注意到的一種情形。」
Hafernik first discovered something eerie was happening to the bees on his campus in 2008 when he stumbled upon several of them staggering in circles along the sidewalk. For weeks he picked a few up and placed them in a glass vial with plans to feed them to his pet praying mantis.
One day he came across a vial he had forgotten on his desk for a couple of weeks. The bees inside were dead, but the vial was overwhelmed with small brown fly pupae. He came to the realization that the bees were parasitized.
哈福尼克2008年首次發現發生在校園內蜜蜂身上的怪事，當時他偶然發現幾隻蜜蜂沿著人行道上兜圈搖晃亂飛。他連續幾個星期撿起幾隻蜜蜂，並將牠們放入玻璃瓶中，打算用來餵他的寵物螳螂。
有一天，他無意中發現他忘在辦公桌上兩三個星期的一個玻璃瓶。瓶裡的蜜蜂都死了，但瓶內卻充滿褐色的小蒼蠅蛹。他意識到這些蜜蜂被寄生了。
After further exploration across San Francisco Bay, he and his colleagues found several bees that were also behaving strangely. They would fly from their hives at night, which was something bees would normally never do, and then circle around a light fixture. After their nocturnal dance the bees would drop to the ground and start walking strangely. They were succumbing to their overlord, larvae of the fly Apocephalus borealis.
在整個舊金山灣區進一探索後，他和同事發現有一些蜜蜂也行為怪異。牠們會在夜晚飛離蜂巢，而這是蜜蜂通常不會做的事情，之後又繞著燈具飛。牠們在夜舞結束後，會掉到地上，並開始奇怪地行走。牠們正受制於牠們的領主─蚤蠅的幼蟲。
The life cycle of the parasitic fly is straight from a horror story. The female fly uses something called an ovipositor, which is like a hypodermic needle, to inject her eggs into the abdomen of the honeybee.
About a week later the larvae lurking within the abdomen wriggle into the bee's thorax and start liquefying and devouring its wing muscles. Then, like in the movie "Alien," they burst through the bee's body, erupting from the soft space between its head and shoulder area.
寄生蠅的生命周期簡直就是個恐怖故事。雌蠅透過一個有如皮下注射器的所謂產卵器，將卵子注入蜜蜂的腹部。
大約過了一個星期以後，潛伏在腹部的幼蟲蠕動進入蜜蜂的胸腔，並且開始液化、吞食蜜蜂的翅膀肌肉。然後，就像電影「異形」中的情節一樣，牠們衝破蜜蜂的身體，從蜜蜂頭部與肩部之間的柔軟空間冒出。
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