Are honey bees the only kind of bee that dies after it stings you?

Question

I was reading somewhere there are 20,000 species of bees. I know bumblebees don't die after they sting you. Do the vast majority of them not die after they sting you?

Good to see you again. I think I still owe you ten points from a while back if noone can top that.

Answer 1

Although it is widely believed that a worker honeybee can sting only once, this is a misconception: although the stinger is in fact barbed so that it lodges in the victim's skin, tearing loose from the bee's abdomen and leading to her death in minutes, this only happens if the victim is a mammal (or bird). The bee's stinger evolved originally for inter-bee combat between members of different hives, and the barbs evolved later as an anti-mammal defense: a barbed stinger can still penetrate the chitinous plates of another bee's exoskeleton and retract safely. Note that, as honeybees are the only hymenoptera with a barbed stinger, that hymenoptera are insects and they are the only insects which sting, they are the only insects that cannot sting a human repeatedly.


Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν (humaen): membrane and πτερόν (pteron): wing. The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Answer 2

Together with ants, bees and wasps form a natural group referred to by taxonomists as the aculeate, or “stinging,” hymenoptera; the stinger is called an aculeus. Only females sting, since the aculeus evolved from the ovipositor or egg-laying tube.

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 bee ends up having her entire stinging apparatus, poison sac and all, wrenched out of its abdomen. The bee will later die due to the damage caused.

http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_bees.html
http://www.greensmiths.com/bees.htm

Answer 3

Well, I consider it is just honey bees that die when they sting. And the motive is that honey bees are there to shield the hive and what is within from attackers or anybody obvious as a risk. Their stinger is all hooked up to their guts and whilst it is lodged within a risk then as they fly away all of it comes out, nonetheless attatched to the stinger. Thus, they die for the hive. Bumble bees are not like that, in view that their stinger remains attatched after they sting, identical as wasps, so they may be able to sting time and again. *begins making a song that John Belushi track approximately bees* A buzz buzz,... a buzz buzz...

Answer 4

Actually, bees only die if their stings are removed from the body. Though it's not terribly practical of course, if you're stung, waiting patiently for the bee to free itself will spare it. It will fly off unharmed. They die when people yank them out of the skin.