Which Insects Die After Stinging You, and Which Can Sting Again?

Quick Take

• The honey bee's fatal sting is not a design flaw but rather a ruthlessly effective survival strategy with a twist most people never consider. Explore the survival strategy →
• Only one type of bee actually dies after stinging you, and the reason is entirely connected to what is in your skin. See why honey bees die →
• The pain from a sting has nothing to do with the stinger itself. What actually causes it surprises most people. Discover what causes pain →
• Some bees have never stung anyone, and no matter how threatened they feel, they never will. Meet bees that never sting →

Getting stung is never a pleasant experience. While you are coping with the pain and discomfort, your last concern is the animal that delivered it. And that is understandable. However, it is important not to group all stinging insects together because they sting with very different stingers and in very different ways. We compared the stinging methodology of honey bees, bumblebees, wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, and ants.

What Is a Stinger?

Bees, wasps, and ants all have stingers. Interestingly, they are also related even though they look quite different. In fact, ants descended from an early form of solitary wasp.

In most bees, wasps, and ants, the stinger is a tube at the rear of the body that is used for laying eggs. It’s called an ovipositor. This is why it is only the females of the species that sting. This adaptation evolved 190 million years ago. Since then, several different stinging strategies have had plenty of time to evolve.

When you get stung, the insect pushes its stinger through your skin. The stinger is so tiny that you may not feel it; it is the venom deposited into your body that causes the pain.

Honey Bee Stings

There is a distinct difference between the stingers of bumblebees and those of other stinging insects. Bumblebees have a hollow, pointed stinger a little like a hypodermic needle. However, it has two rows of lancets, or saw-toothed blades. They are barbed and face outward, like on a harpoon. As the bee stings you, these blades scissor alternately into your skin and anchor like a screw.

The bee has muscles connecting the stinger to a sac containing venom. Venom is pumped through muscle contractions and passes along the hollow center of the stinger into your body. The scent of the venom alerts other bees that there is a threat to the hive.

After stinging, however, the honey bee cannot get its stinger back out because the barbs wedge it in. As the bee struggles and gets its body free, it rips off part of its abdomen and internal organs, including the venom sac. The bee dies soon after. Meanwhile, the venom apparatus continues to pump venom into the wound for up to 60 seconds after the bee has flown away. Because the honey bee cannot remove its stinger, it can sting only once.

Importantly, if a honey bee stings another insect, it can often get its stinger back out because the exoskeleton is thin and flexible. It is the thick, elastic skin of humans and other mammals that causes the stinger to become lodged.

How Do Hornets, Wasps, Bumblebees and Ants Sting?

These insects also deliver venom through hollow stingers, but there is an important difference. The stinger is smooth and can therefore be removed. This means that they can sting repeatedly. Some wasps, such as paper wasps, are capable of rapid repeat stinging. Yellowjackets can deliver several stings in succession. The hornet’s stinger is longer. The pain that each insect sting causes depends on the chemical composition of the venom and the quantity delivered.

Some ants, including fire ants, attach themselves to their victims using their mandibles. This anchors them in place while they pivot their bodies and sting repeatedly in a circular pattern. None of these animals die after stinging.

What’s Behind the Different Stinger Anatomy?

It may seem strange that the honey bee would evolve to die after stinging once. This does not seem to be an advantageous adaptation at first glance. However, female honey bee workers are sterile, and there are thousands of them. Their sole purpose is to protect the colony and its queen. Having a barbed stinger means that it can continue delivering venom, therefore increasing the dose. Also, the detached stinger releases alarm pheromones that attract nearby workers to defend the hive. This single, high-dose sting is an effective defensive strategy for them. Interestingly, the stinger of a queen honey bee has no barbs, and she can sting repeatedly. She uses her stinger to fend off competition from other queens.

Other stinging insects have adopted a different approach. Some use their stingers both for defense and hunting. Many do not live in colonies and forage on their own, so self-sacrifice for the good of a colony is not an issue for them. Many wasps and ants frequently use their stingers throughout their lives.

Not All Bees and Wasps Sting

It’s also important to bear in mind that not all bees sting. One of the species that’s most likely to sting you is the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). They are native to Europe and Africa, but are now found almost everywhere in the world. Globally, there are 537 species of stingless bees that defend their nests by biting the intruders instead.

Social wasps such as yellowjackets, hornets, and paper wasps have colonies to defend and are therefore more likely to sting you. Solitary wasps such as mud daubers and cicada killers live quiet lives and have little reason to sting humans.

Ultimately, most of these creatures will only sting as a last resort and would prefer it if you simply kept away from them.