Multiple stings from the same bee, howzat' work?

[artic]

I was doing a bit of watering by the apiary today and was confronted by a distressed bee. I ignored her head buts and sure enough it stung me in the arm. I flicked it off and it came right back at me and stung me rather quickly under the eye, and then went after my dog. I don't take well to things going after my dog, so the bee did not survive. I was rather surprised to see that not only did the bee not leave a stinger after the first attack, it attacked at least once perhapses twice more, stinger in toe each time. Mind you I did not get much venom in each sting (no swelling to the arm and very minimal swelling under the eye). This bee defiantly was a honey bee worker, not a queen, or some other type of bee, and when I smashed it knowing full well it was the original attacker, it still had its stinger. Is this not uncommon for a bee to sting multiple times, as I've never experienced it nor heard of it before?

[James Shoemaker]

Are you sure that is was not a yellow jacket. When honeybees sting they can not sting agin due to that the stinger has barbs on it. So when they sting you the dtinger is still in your arm or the place they stung you. I feel that it was so other bee. Just my 2 cents worth.
James

[naturebee]

Honeybees can choose to bite or sting.

It seems more common in races of bees that head but to first opt to bite instead of stinging. Although it is possible that she did sting and the stinger did not penetrate far enough for the barbs to catch.

[Dick Allen]

I've had bees sting me before without them losing their sting. It has been very rare though.

[FordGuy]

I think if the barb(s) don't catch on your skin or clothes, the organ is not pulled out.

[FordGuy]

I would destroy that entire hive. I can't imagine there in NM how if you had AHBs crossed with bees that lacked barbs on stingers and could sting multiple times...

[Neubee]

That would be a nightmare.

[artic]

James Shoemaker, I'm 100% positive it was a bee and the same bee each time, as it never left my line of site.

Pcolar, I could believe the biting theory, my bees have some Russian in them. Russian bees are known to bite mites and the such for hygienic behavior, why not me. I wonder if the minor swelling under the eye, and not on the arm, is simply a result of being bitten in a sensitive spot.

FordGuy, hm... genetically engineered bar bless multi-stinging Americanized hybrid bees with mite resistance, my plans are all coming together now! I'm one step closer to taking over the world ! smile.gif

[Jeffrey Todd]

I have received light stings before in which the bees starts the stinging process but I flick her off of me quickly and her stinger does not get deep enough to imbed and separate from her. That must be the case here.
As a matter of fact, that very thing happened to me today. I received one full, pull-out-the-guts sting and several light stings in which I managed to knock the bees off before the stingers imbedded. (I did not see what the bees did afterwards as I was focused on other things)

[divebee]

I noticed some of the same as some of the others have mentioned. Seems the bee can occasionally give light stings and if the barb doesnt catch they can keep doing this. Im not so sure some of them may not be aware of that, as they seem to exercise that at times on me. But if they get that stinger in very much, they lose it. Just some of my thoughts, noticing similiar experiences.

[naturebee]

--“I could believe the biting theory, my bees have some Russian in them. Russian bees are known to bite mites and the such for hygienic behavior, why not me.”,,,

Russians are known to do it more often as a defensive tactic, and will sometimes use head butting, biting or hair pulling to get you out of the area rather than by stinging. But in your case, I’m willing to bet that it was a partial sting that didn’t penetrate enough for the barbs to catch and this enabled a second sting.

[Tia]

Hair Pulling?!?! That's a new one on me!

[FordGuy]

he's right Tia. One of my Russions actually gave me the back of her hand.

[Tia]

That is so cool! I just keep learning more and more about these girls. Totally fascinating!

[naturebee]

Hair Pulling behaviour:

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/biting.html

My Russians used to do this allot. Avoiding my bald spot, they would go into my hair, and I would feel them puling hair and buzzing as if they were caught. But I knew better, there isn’t enough hair left up there for a bee to get caught in.

I decided I’d better get rid of the Russians because with hair at a premium for me, it was counter productive for me to keep hair pulling bees.

[ May 08, 2006, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: Pcolar ]

[Tia]

Thanks. I've printed this out to take to the next bee meeting. When I told them tonight that some bees resort to hair pulling they thought I was making it up!

[naturebee]

Tia,
Heres another refrence to hair pulling from
'The Biology of the Honey Bee'
by Mark Winston

Honey Bee Defense

Biology of the Honey Bee by Mark Winston, 1987, Pg 114-116

“Honey bees have different tactics for defense. Attempts to chase away vertebrates usually involve biting, hair-pulling and eventually stinging,,,

http://www3.telus.net/conrad/bz8.htm

[Kyle]

Another possible (but rather unlikely) situation might be that it was a mutant bee. You have to figure out how much DNA is moved around in a hive and see that a mutant is possible among the tens of thousands of bees. As I say, it is very unlikely that this is the case, but hey, anything is possible. Probably the more like scenario of the barbs not catching or the bee biting you is more the case.

[Dick Allen]

Diana Sammataro gives a description on bee anatomy in “The Beekeeper’s Handbook”. On p. 9 she says this: The drone’s abdomen contains the male reproductive organs but has no wax glands and no sting. Sometimes a drone can be found with both male and female parts; these rare *gynandromorphs* may actually be able to sting you!”

Maybe the bee that stung you was a gynandromorph.

[artic]

Kyle, as intriguing the idea of mutant bee would be, I can see the news reports now, you thought we had it bad with AHB, it probably was a bite followed by a partial sting or two partial stings, or possibly even a bit of hair pulling on the arm. Especially with this being an apparently known trait of Russian bees, even if this is the first time most of us have heard anything about it.

Dick, it certainly looked like a worker bee. Besides, it's outside appearance, the fact that it stung twice (assuming it was in fact a full sting each time) would mean it would have to have a barbless stinger like a queen. As far as I'm aware gynandromorphs would share the characteristics between a drone and a worker bee, and thus have a barbed stinger if a stinger exists (which is rare). I think a 'queen diet' would be required that so as to trigger hormonal changes to create a queen like gynandromorph with a barbless stinger, I would think this to be unlikely to happen, and I find it even more unlikely due to its appearance. This is mostly logical guesses/steps using what I know of bee, I may be completely wrong, so don't quote me unless I'm right smile.gif

I just wish I saved the bee for closer inspection of the stinger, though honestly I don't think there was much left of it after it was introduced to the bottom of my shoe.