Article by: Adam Allington and David Schultz May 23, 2019

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Initially, there were three types of European honeybees put to work in the New World. But the Italian honeybees, which were bred to be docile and produce high volumes of honey, quickly became the dominant race of Apis mellifera in the U.S., according to Jeff Lee, a beekeeper and owner of Lee’s Bees.
But, there was a tradeoff to using these friendly, gentle bees.
“You always sacrifice something in genetics, and you sacrifice the hypervigilant behavior” with the Italian bees, Lee said.

There are benefits to bees being aggressive: without aggression, you don’t fight off parasites that can invade your hive. And that leads us to the current chapter of honeybee history.