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Bees and Wasps are those insects that we may come across now and then. Wasp and Bees construct their shelter in nooks and corners of the house.

Both bee stings and Wasp stings can cause pain and form an allergic reaction to human skin. Bee and Wasp stings can cause severe pain. Both the stings of bees and wasps may lead to severe illness if left untreated.

Key Takeaways

  1. Bee stings contain a barbed stinger that detaches from the bee, while wasp stings feature a smooth stinger that remains attached to the wasp.
  2. Bees can only sting once, resulting in death, whereas wasps can sting multiple times without harm.
  3. Bee venom induces a localized reaction with mild pain and swelling, while wasp venom may cause more severe pain and increased inflammation.

Bee vs Wasp Sting

Bees can sting only once, while the wasp stings multiple times. A bee dies after stinging once, and a wasp will not die despite repeatedly stinging. A wasp sting is more poisonous than a bee sting. A bee injects 50 micrograms of venom in a sting, while a wasp injects only 15 micrograms in a sting.

Bee vs Wasp Sting

Bees are common insects that we encounter now and then. They are friendly in nature. Honey bee makes honey. Honey is considered their winter food.

There are around twenty-five thousand species of bees. They are considered great pollinators. A bee sting can cause pain and forms an allergic reaction in the human skin.

Wasps are deadly and hostile in nature. They have no hair on their body. They never leave back their stinger. The wasp does not make honey. They keep pest control in check by consuming the insects found in the garden.

Unlike bees, wasp consumes the human food (sweets and drinks) that are found in them. Wasps can be identified by their dangling legs.

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Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonBee StingWasp Sting
AppearanceBees have a round body and come in colours such as yellow and black.Wasps have a body that is similar to a cylinder and comes in a variety of colours.
NatureThey are human friendly in nature.Wasps are non-friendly in nature.
StingThe bee sting can cause pain and infection. Bees leave their stings behind.Wasp stings are also painful and cause infections. They never leave their sting behind.
Common home remediesCleaning the infected area and icing the spot where the bee-stung.Cleaning the infected area and use a cold pack. Applying baking powder mixed with water.
BenefitsBees produce honey.Wasps are great pollinators.

What is Bee Sting?

Bee is a popular insect that we encounter now and then. Their bodies are round and come in colours such as yellow and black. They have black stripes.

Apart from the regular black and yellow colours, bees also come in a variety of colours. Sweat bees come in green colours, which are considered the most colourful bee.

Bees are considered good pollinators, and also, they are human friendly, and they can be trained by a method called classical conditioning.

Beekeeping is a common practice where beehives are made artificially. These bee colonies are constructed for bees to increase pollination or used in the production of honey.

The bee stings can cause severe and sharp pain in the human skin. Usually, bee stings can be treated with home remedies.

Apart from a bee sting, the bees make honey, a liquid that appears slightly gold in colour and tastes very sweet when consumed. Interestingly, honey never gets spoiled, given that they are well preserved and maintained.

Eighty per cent of honey contains sugar, and only twenty per cent of honey contains water.

Honey also contains a lot of health benefits. They contain a good amount of anti-oxidants needed for the body. The sugar present in the honey is collected from the nectar of a million flowers by the honey bees from the environment.

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Honey is also considered a medicinal liquid.

bee sting

What is Wasp Sting?

Wasp is non-friendly in nature. They have a body that is similar to a cylinder. Some of the usual colours of wasps include yellow, brown, thick red and shiny blue.

The stings of a wasp sting are deadly and can cause severe pain and forms an allergic reaction on the human skin.

The after-effects of a wasp sting are dizziness, rash and wheezing. The bite should be taken care of with proper medical aid, or it may lead to serious illness.

Unlike bees, wasps do not leave behind their stingers. The wasps can be better identified with their dangling legs.

These wasps are considered as self-defence of wasps to protect themselves from danger. One may experience sharp pain when a wasp stings, which is then followed by irritation.

The area where it bit may be reddish and swollen. A tiny dot or mark is formed on the skin’s surface.

The dot is identified as the area where the wasp stings. Usually, the wasp stings can be healed by natural home remedies, and the redness may return to normal skin tone within a few hours, but, in some cases, the victim may feel dizziness and wheezing.

wasp sting

Main Differences Between Bee and Wasp Sting

  1. The bees leave back their stings. On the other hand, Wasps do not leave their stings back.
  2. Bees are human-friendly in nature, whereas wasps are hostile and non-friendly in nature.
  3. Post wasp sting, one may experience dizziness, wheezing and irritation. In the aftermath of a bee sting, one may experience an allergic reaction on the skin’s surface.
  4. The most common home remedy for a wasp sting is applying baking powder mixed with water. The same goes for bee stings too.
  5. Bees produce honey and are considered to be great pollinators. On the other hand, unlike bees, wasps do not make honey. Instead, they are also great pollinators.
Difference Between Bee and Wasp Sting
References
  1. https://www.pnas.org/content/113/1/146.short
  2. https://bjo.bmj.com/content/61/10/662.short

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By Piyush Yadav

Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.