Get the Point about Bee Stings!

In parts of the United States, particularly in the eastern states, yellowjackets, wasps, hornets and bees are all called "bees" by the general public. Of course the general public is principally focused on one attribute these insects have in common - their stingers.

Bee Stings vs. Wasp Stings

Honey bee venom contains almost 20 active substances. Melittin, the most prevalent substance, is one of the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known. It is 100 times more potent than hydrocortisol. Adolapin is another strong anti-inflammatory substance, and inhibits cyclooxygenase, also creating analgesic activity as well. Apamin inhibits complement C3 activity, and blocks calcium-dependent potassium channels, thus enhancing nerve transmission.

Other substances, such as Compound X, Hyaluronidase, Phospholipase A2, Histamine, and Mast Cell Degranulating Protein (MSDP), are involved in the inflammatory response of venom, with the softening of tissue and the facilitation of flow of the other substances. There are also measurable amounts of the neurotransmitters Dopamine, Norepinephrine and Seratonin.

Wasp venom changes depending upon the type of wasp. Most have similar ingredients to the bee but the make up is different in the percentages of each ingredient. One of the main differences between the wasp sting vs. the bee sting is the way the two inject their venom.

The wasp thrusts his shaft into the victim and the lancets move rapidly backwards and forwards (sliding along the stylet) in a sawing action. The lancets are barbed, meaning that they have small backward-pointed hooks along their edges.

As the shaft penetrates further into the victim's body, the barbs allow anchorage against the flesh until the alternate lancet moves forward and 'claws' the shaft deeper into the wound. The movement of the lancets also enables a pumping action to take place at the abdomen end of the shaft. This causes the poison sac to pump venom down through a central poison canal, between the lancets and out through the shaft tip into the wound.

Both bees and wasps sting their victims using a similar process but there is an essential difference, especially important when the victim being stung is a human being! Bee lancets have larger barbs than wasps. The bee is unable to rip the shaft back out through the wound due to the barbs' resistance against the firmness of human flesh.

The wasp stinger has lancets with very small barbs, more like fine serrated edges. A wasp can extract the shaft and fly off contented with having executed a nasty attack on the hapless victem. On the other hand the poor bee ends up having his entire stinging apparatus, poison sac and all, wrenched out of its abdomen. The bee will later die due to the damage caused.

For more information, please select these pages:

About the Bee

The Africanized Honey Bee (the "Killer Bee")

Yellowjackets - Your Uninvited Picnic Guests Carpenter Bees

Cicada Killer Wasps

Mud Dauber Wasps

The Giant Hornet Wasp

Paper Wasps