Do all bees sting? The answer is no; not all bees possess the ability to deliver a sting. Stinging is a specialized defense mechanism, and its presence depends entirely on the bee’s biological anatomy and its role within its colony. Understanding which bees can and cannot sting requires looking closely at the biological structure of the stinger itself.
The Biological Basis of Stinging
The ability to sting is exclusive to female bees, which include both workers and queens. This is because the stinger is an organ with an evolutionary history rooted in reproduction. The stinger is a highly modified ovipositor, which is the egg-laying apparatus found in female insects.
During the evolutionary development of bees and wasps, this egg-depositing structure was repurposed for defense. Since male bees, often called drones, do not have an ovipositor, they never develop the structure that becomes the stinger. Consequently, a male bee is physically incapable of stinging. The primary function of the stinger in female bees is to defend the nest or the individual from perceived threats.
Populations That Do Not Sting
There are two major groups of bees that cannot sting, stemming from different biological reasons. The first group is all male bees, or drones, across every species of bee.
The second major group that lacks effective stinging capability is the Meliponini tribe, commonly known as stingless bees. These bees, found throughout tropical regions, are female workers and queens, but their stingers are highly reduced or vestigial. The tiny, non-functional stinger cannot be used as a defensive weapon. Instead, stingless bees rely on alternative defensive behaviors, such as aggressive biting with their mandibles, or secreting caustic chemical irritants or sticky resins to repel intruders.
How the Sting Mechanism Varies
Among the female bees that can sting, the physical structure of the stinger varies significantly, which determines whether the bee can sting once or multiple times. The most well-known stinger type is the barbed stinger, characteristic of the worker honey bee. This stinger is equipped with backward-pointing barbs that are designed to anchor the apparatus firmly into the thick, elastic skin of mammals.
When the honey bee attempts to pull away after stinging, the barbs prevent the stinger from being withdrawn. The entire stinging apparatus, including the venom sac and some internal tissue, is torn from the bee’s abdomen. This catastrophic injury results in the worker honey bee’s death shortly after the single defensive act. The detached venom sac continues to pump venom into the target.
Most other stinging bees, including bumblebees, solitary bees, and even the queen honey bee, possess a smooth stinger. This lack of substantial barbs allows the bee to easily retract the stinger from the skin after injecting venom. Consequently, bees with smooth stingers can survive the encounter and sting repeatedly if they perceive a continued threat. The smooth stinger design is the most common among the thousands of bee species worldwide.