Initially the name adsansonii was misapplied to A. m. scutelleta and in particular to the Africanised bees of South America.

[4] There are reports that if the A. m. adansonii is kept in traditional hives, where a single comb of honey would be removed from the rear.

They can be kept near villages, even in house walls, only exhibiting aggression the day after honey is removed.

However if they are subjected to greater manipulation such as with modern hives with moveable frames their aggression results in them only being able to be worked with during the night with heavy smoke.

The authors theorized that the "larger degree of infertility of adult female mite after invasion of worker brood (in comparison to Western European Honey Bees)" could explain the low infestation levels.