I was just reading about the Asian giant hornet (it's as big as a human thumb) which love to invade honeybee houses and steal the larvae (to feed their own larvae... sick!) Check this out: (from wiki)
a single hornet can kill as many as 40 honey bees per minute thanks to their large mandibles which can quickly strike and decapitate a bee. It takes only a few of these hornets a few hours to exterminate the population of a 30,000-member hive, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs
BUT. While European honeybees get killed off because they haven't developed a defense against these hornets, the Japanese honeybees have a chance to hold their own if they detect the hornet's "pheremonal hunting signals." Check THIS out:
When the honey bees detect these pheromones, a hundred or so will gather near the entrance of the nest and set up a trap, keeping it open apparently to draw the hornet further into the hive or allow it to enter on its own. As the hornet enters the nest, a large mob of about five hundred honey bees surrounds it, completely covering it and preventing it from moving, and begin quickly vibrating their flight muscles. This has the effect of raising the temperature of the honey bee mass to 47 °C (117 °F). The honey bees can just about tolerate this temperature, but the hornet cannot survive more than 46 °C (115 °F), so it dies. Often several bees perish along with the intruder, but the death of the hornet scout prevents it from summoning reinforcements which would wipe out the colony.WTF! A giant honeybee ball of heat! How interesting is that! If bees don't bother you, check out the photo.
(And everyone mocks the Ewoks for being able to kill Imperial soldiers. Hmph!)
