The belief that all honey bees sting is a common misconception. Understanding the specific roles and physical characteristics within a honey bee colony reveals a more nuanced reality regarding which bees can sting and the reasons behind this defense mechanism. This distinction helps clarify the interactions between honey bees and other creatures, including humans.
Not All Honey Bees Sting
Within a honey bee colony, not every individual possesses the ability to sting. This capacity is primarily limited to female bees. Male honey bees, known as drones, lack a stinger entirely. Their anatomy does not include the modified ovipositor, rendering them incapable of stinging.
Worker bees, which are sterile females, are the most common honey bees encountered and are responsible for defending the hive. They possess a barbed stinger used in defense. Queen bees also have a stinger, as they are female, but its structure differs from that of worker bees. A queen’s stinger is smoother with fewer barbs, allowing her to sting multiple times without dying. Queen bees rarely sting humans, reserving their stinger for dispatching rival queens during battles for dominance within the hive.
Why and How Honey Bees Sting
Honey bees primarily sting as a defensive measure to protect their colony from perceived threats. The stinging apparatus of a worker honey bee is a modified ovipositor, an organ in insects typically used for egg-laying. When a worker bee stings a mammal, its barbed stinger becomes lodged in the skin.
The stinger is composed of a sharp stylus and two barbed lancets. These lancets move alternately, with their backward-facing barbs catching in the skin, pulling the stinger deeper into the flesh. This barbed design makes it difficult for the bee to pull the stinger back out of thick skin. The stinger is connected to a venom sac, and as the stinger remains embedded, it continues to pump venom into the wound. Honey bee venom, known as apitoxin, contains various compounds, including melittin, which is largely responsible for the pain and inflammation associated with a sting.
The Aftermath of a Honey Bee Sting
When a worker honey bee stings a mammal, the barbed stinger, along with parts of the bee’s abdomen including the venom sac, are torn away from its body. This severe abdominal rupture results in the death of the worker bee shortly after stinging. The detached stinger can continue to pump venom into the stung individual for up to a minute after the bee has flown away.
For the individual who is stung, the immediate reaction involves localized pain, swelling, and redness at the site of the sting. Due to the continued venom delivery from the embedded stinger, prompt removal is important to minimize the amount of venom injected. Scraping the stinger out with a fingernail or a credit card is recommended to remove it quickly. Cleaning the area with soap and water after removal helps reduce the risk of infection.