A nest of dwarf honey bees was recently found on a ship in Melbourne, which had previously docked at Port Kembla, Department of Primary Industries chief plant protection Officer Dr Satendra Kumar said.

"The nest was found to be without a queen, meaning there was a small possibility that a queen and swarm may have left the ship during its journey," Dr Kumar said.

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"We're urging all beekeepers in the Illawarra to be on alert for suspect nests, which can be hard to spot as they typically form on branches surrounded by foliage.

"Dwarf honey bees [only] grow to about 10mm long but they are highly invasive, aggressive and host several species of parasitic mites."

Towradgi beekeeper Dave West of Illawarra Bees said it was the first dwarf bee problem he'd heard about here.

"She [the missing queen] couldn't continue a hive by herself," he said.

"I don't think that queen would be adopted by another hive. Normally the procedure is that anything within a couple of kilometres [found offshore] of Port Kembla gets poisoned."

Mr West said he had dealt with the Asian honey bee before, and October is the month when the alert is high against the infectious disease American foulbrood.

"They're a good barometer of the environment," he said of the bee colonies. "They're like frogs - you start using too many pesticides, people start remarking you see less bees around."

While beekeeping had shown a resurgence over the past ten years, he said since COVID it's greater: "Everyone has some time on their hands, there's been a lot of interest this spring in bee classes, and people trying to source bees".

Dwarf honey bees have a thick red/orange or black thorax and alternating dark brown and white abdominal banding.

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