Bees and ants are not correctly referred to as "biters", since they insert stingers into their victims, and their purpose is purely defensive (although this may not appease the receiver). Many bees sting, but bumble bees (Bombus) and especially honey bees (Apis) do most of the damage. The bumble bee is generally inoffensive, but a person who inadvertantly steps on a bumble bee nest in the ground may be stung severely.

The vast majority of serious bees stings are by honey bees, unfortunately sometimes of apiarists. In recent years the northwward movement of the Africanized "killer bees" from Brazil has been widely reported. They are now in the Southern United States, and may or may not have reached the limits of their expansion. However, for whatever reasons, they seem in the United States to be not markedly more dangerous than the common European honey bees with which they have interbred. The reason for attack is again usually disturbance of their hives.

The hives are rearing and storage structures, and it is here that queens and some of their brood persist through the winter. Established colonies will sometimes subdivide, with a large "swarm" taking off for a new home (which has already been scouted out). These swarms are generally not as dangerous as they may appear.