I suspect our fireants would give them some competition for territory.
I ccidentally sat on a fire ant nest while wearing shorts when I was stationed in Pensacola,FL. Luckily, I only got bit on the thighs a few times. I'll agree, they are very unpleasant and nothing to sneeze at, but I'd take a single fire ant bite over a single sting from those tiny bees, given the choice. Problem is, BOTH have a tendency to attack en masse, so you are bound to get several of either, at which point it matter little which individual is more painful, as multiples from either is unpleasant enough to not really matter any more.
After the fire ant incident, I spent the rest of the day feeling like there was still some on me, and was all twitchy, kept swatting at nothing, and was generally a litle paranoid and freaked out. I sure I looked a bit nuts the rest of the day.
