Collinsville Virginia beekeeper Lynn Berry is the first citizen scientist to discover Apocephalus borealis in a honey bee from a southern state.. Berry noticed bees congregating near his garage lights, but thought nothing of it until a state inspector came to a meeting of the local beekeeping club and told attendees about the zombie bee phenomenon. Berry collected his samples and sent them to Brian Brown, a phorid fly expert at the National History Museum of Los Angeles County, who confirmed that one had been infected by the Apocephalis borealis fly.   We expect that infection rates will rise during the summer and peak in the fall. ZomBee Watch is already receiving reports of honey bees being hard hit this year in the Hudson Valley of New York. The important next steps are to determine how common the phenomenon is in eastern honey bees, whether it might be spreading and increasing in intensity and how serious it is for the health of honey bee colonies. More than ever, we need citizen scientists to join the ZomBee Watch Team, to be on the lookout for honey bees acting strangely in their area and report their observations.  Read more the complete news release.