Killer Bee

The Killer Bee is an enemy in the Castlevania series. It is a giant bee with a stinger that can easily pierce and kill.
==Origins==
The Africanized bee, also known as "Killer Bee", is a hybrid of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the East African lowland honey bee (A. m. scutellata).
The East African lowland honey bee was first introduced to Brazil in 1956 in an effort to increase honey production, but twenty six swarms escaped quarantine in 1957. Since then, the hybrid has spread throughout South America and arrived in North America in 1985. Hives were found in south Texas in the United States in 1990.
Africanized bees are typically much more defensive than other varieties of honey bees, and react to disturbances faster than European honey bees. They can chase a person a quarter of a mile (400 m); they have killed some 1,000 humans, with victims receiving ten times more stings than from European honey bees. They have also killed horses and other animals.
==Description==
Killer Bees are gigantic and monstrous versions of common bees. Their abdomens are elongated and appear to be swollen, perhaps from the amount of poison they carry inside, giving them an aspect more akin to wasps.
The ones in Circle of the Moon, while uncommonly large, still resemble the common insects they're based upon, although featuring a blue exoskeleton. They're strikingly fast and difficult to avoid. This variant will inflict Poison status to Nathan if they manage to sting him.
The ones found in Portrait of Ruin are more dreadful, as the shape of their heads combined with their big mandibles make them look as if they had a human skull, not to mention the hives from where they spawn also resembles an upside down skull. While not as fast or poisonous as their Circle of the Moon counterparts, this variant relies more in numbers and may overwhelm the heroes should they let them populate the room.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
These giant insects are initially encountered hovering in place until approached, at which point they make a lightning fast strike with their stingers, which can be difficult to avoid and which inflicts Poison status if successful. After performing this attack, they'll fly straightforward and leave the screen. They can be killed fairly easy with ranged attacks, though.
Unlike most other enemies, Killer Bees will keep respawning in the rooms they are encountered at, regardless if they were already killed; meaning that if the player kills one, then moves a few steps away in the same room, and then returns to the location where the Killer Bee was first encountered, another will already have taken its place and be ready to attack.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
The Killer Bees found in Portrait of Ruin are generally slower, although they come out in endless hordes from inside of Bee Hives found throughout the Forest of Doom. Destroying the hives will prevent more bees from spawning.
==Trivia==
*The Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin's Killer Bee may have been inspired by the Needle Hornet, an enemy proposed in the contest for Castlevania: Bloodlines, but ultimately unused.
==See also==
*Bee Hive
*Insects
Category:American Lore
Category:Animal-Type Enemies
Category:Flying Enemies
Category:Insects
Category:Latin American Monsters
Category:Circle of the Moon Enemies
Category:Portrait of Ruin Enemies