Honeybee workers will sting humans and domesticated animals in defense of themselves or their hive. A single sting is painful but not dangerous unless the target is allergic to the venom, in which case it can be life threatening. Otherwise, it takes about 20 stings per kilogram of body weight to be life threatening.

 

Each subspecies of Apis mellifera has different behavioral patterns in regards to intruders near or around the hive. The African subspecies are particularly aggressive. One of them, Apis mellifera scutellata, was accidentally released in South America, and has spread north to the southern United States. This is the "killer bee." It is notable for having a much higher aggressive response to disturbance -- more workers attack than in other subspecies, and they pursue targets much longer than European bees do. The spread of these bees made beekeeping much more expensive and complicated, and the aggressive bees caused many deaths. (Adjare, 1990; Sammataro and Avitabile, 1998)

 

Negative Impacts: Injures Humans; Injures Humans :: bites or stings; Injures Humans :: venomous