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Q Why do bees die after stinging you? And how is a onetime-only defence mechanism evolutionarily beneficial?
The only bees known to die when they sting are species in the genus – the ‘true honeybees’. The species you are most likely to encounter in Australia is the introduced European or western honeybee, A post-sting self-destruct strategy makes sense for such a truly social species because its self-sacrificing workers, which sting, are sterile and unable to breed. Their evolutionary success is based on the success of the hive, namely the queen and male drones. These bees will literally die to protect ‘Queen and colony’.
