![]() ![]() Sometimes the victim will become nauseated, vomit, and/or suffer abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Pain from a bee, wasp, or hornet sting is immediate, with rapid swelling, redness, warmth, and itching at the site of the sting. Thus, the honeybee can sting only once, whereas a wasp, with a smooth stinger that does not become entrapped, can sting multiple times, as can yellow jackets, hornets, and bumblebees. When the bee attempts to escape after a sting, the stinger and sac remain in the victim (this kills the bee) and continue to inject venom. The sting mechanism for a honeybee is composed of a doubly barbed stinger attached to a venom sac that pumps venom into the victim. The bees are established in Arizona, New Mexico, and California, and unfortunately appear to be increasing their habitat as they adapt to colder temperatures. A victim may be stung from 50 to more than 1,000 times it is estimated that 500 stings achieves the lethal threshold. However, the personality of the Africanized bees is such that they may pursue a victim for up to ⅔ mile (1 km), and may recruit other attacking bees by the hundreds or thousands. ![]() The venom of an Africanized bee is not of greater volume or potency than that of a European honeybee. The hazard from these bees is that they tend to be more irritable, sense threat at a distance greater than their European counterparts, swarm more readily, defend their nests more aggressively and stay agitated around the nest for days, and impose mass attacks on humans. “Killer bees” are an Africanized race of honeybees created by interbreeding of the African honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata (brought for experiments into Brazil) with common European honeybees. Most stings occur on the head, neck, arms, and legs. This group of insects includes honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets each possesses a stinger, which is used to introduce venom into the victim. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |