Data from: Bees at war: interspecific battles and nest usurpation in stingless bees

We provide the first evidence for inter-specific warfare in bees, a
spectacular natural phenomenon that involves a series of aerial battles
and leads to thousands of fatalities from both attacking and defending
colonies. Through molecular analyses of fights at a study hive of the
Australian stingless bee, Tetragonula carbonaria, we revealed an attack
launched by a related species, T. hockingsi, which has only recently
extended its habitat into southeastern Queensland. Following a succession
of attacks by the same T. hockingsi colony over a four-month period, the
defending T. carbonaria colony was defeated and the hive usurped, with the
winning colony installing a new queen. We complemented our direct
observations with a longitudinal study of over 260 hives over five years,
and found interspecies hive changes, which were likely to be usurpation
events, occurring in 46 Tetragonula hives over this period. We discuss how
fighting swarms and hive usurpation fit with theoretical predictions on
the evolution of fatal fighting, and highlight the many unexplained
features of these battles that warrant further study.