a honeybee, Apis mellifera adansonii, native to Africa, that is extremely aggressive and attacks in swarms when disturbed: brought to Brazil and accidentally released there in 1956.
2.
an American hybrid of the African and European honeybees produced by the mingling of domesticated European colonies with an expanding and migrating African colony that escaped from an apiary in Brazil.
Af·ri·can·ized bee (āf'rĭ-kə-nīzd') n. A hybrid strain of honeybee introduced into Brazil in the mid-1950s and distinguished by aggressive traits such as the tendency to mass swarm and sting with great frequency. The bee was developed by a geneticist attempting to produce a commercial honeybee better adapted to the tropics. Also called Africanized honeybee, killer bee.
(āf'rĭ-kə-nīzd') 