The queen bee is the central figure in highly organized honey bee colonies. Her primary role is to lay eggs, ensuring the continuation and growth of the hive population. Unlike worker bees, a queen bee can sting multiple times without dying.
The Queen’s Stinger: Built for Multiple Use
A queen bee possesses a stinger distinctly different from a worker bee’s, allowing her to sting multiple times without perishing. Worker bees have barbed stingers with small hooks that lodge into the skin of a victim, particularly mammals. When a worker bee stings and attempts to pull away, the barbed stinger, along with parts of her internal organs, is torn from her abdomen, leading to her death.
In contrast, the queen bee’s stinger is smooth or has only very small barbs, preventing it from getting stuck. This anatomical difference enables the queen to retract her stinger after use, allowing her to survive and sting again. Her stinger, a modified ovipositor, is also used for laying eggs.
Why a Queen Bee Stings
A queen bee primarily uses her stinger as a weapon against other queen bees. This combat typically occurs during periods of swarming or when new virgin queens emerge in the hive. The first queen to emerge will often seek out and sting rival queens, sometimes even those still in their queen cells, to ensure her sole dominance within the colony.
Stinging humans or other animals is an extremely rare occurrence for a queen bee. Her role keeps her largely confined to the hive, focused on egg-laying. A queen bee would typically only sting a human if she were roughly handled or accidentally trapped against the skin.
What to Know About a Queen Bee’s Sting
While any bee sting can be painful, the queen’s venom is generally less potent than a worker bee’s. Her venom is primarily adapted for subduing other queens, not for defense against larger predators.
The sting itself is not usually a significant health concern for humans, unless an individual has an allergy to bee venom. In such cases, an allergic reaction could be severe and would require immediate medical attention. For most people, the experience would involve localized pain, redness, and swelling, similar to a typical bee sting, though often with a quicker resolution of symptoms due to the lack of a lodged stinger.