Back in 1957, some 26 queens from a subspecies (Apis mellifera scutellata) of African honey bees native to the African nation of Tanzania, were accidentally–or, according to some researchers, intentionally–released in southeast Brazil following research by the biologist Warwick E. Kerr into the behavior of such bees in the forests of tropical South America. It was widely believed at the time that such bees would produce more honey and survive better than the European honey bees then being imported throughout the Americas for use in crop pollination and honey production. [...]