Reply #5: absolutely it's true

[amazona]

We discussed this before so I'm a little surprised. The domestic honeybee described in the article you cited is, clearly, a domestic species. Hence the name domestic? It is from Europe. We have many native pollinators -- an example that we all remember as a friend from childhood is the "bumble" bee -- a very large bee species. Google it a bit, or remind me again tomorrow when I'm not so tired from hitting all the post-debate polls. :-)

I don't know the program you saw on TV but I want you to keep in mind that most people, if bitten by 1,000 actual real bees, would die, of shock. Are you sure the program wasn't about folk being bitten by 1000-plus "sweat bees" -- a fly that looks just like a bee except it has two wings instead of four? You don't die of being bitten 1,000 times by a sweat "bee" you just wished you died!

A moment of thumbing through the books assures me that I'm not on drugs and that the domestic honeybee was introduced to the U.S. in colonial times. Nudge me to provide links tomorrow and I will but I think you will be more convinced in the end if you also double check for yourself.