THE world’s first farmer bees have been discovered in the Amazon basin. The Schwarzula bees keep a “herd” of aphid-like bugs from which they collect wax to repair their nests and a sugary substance to make honey.
Reports a century ago suggested that some species of bees have taken to animal husbandry, but the evidence was sketchy. The Amazonian discovery marks the first time that bees have been observed domesticating another species.
The bees and their herd, a type of soft-scale insect, are so new to science that they have not yet been given species names. The bees are only…
