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For other uses, see Stinger (disambiguation).
Wasp sting, with droplet of venom




Hornets, some ants, centipedes, scorpions, and spiders also sting. Some insects leave their stinger in the wound. Multiple stings may give rise to severe systemic symptoms and in rare instances may even lead to death; the bites of some spiders are known to be lethal, particularly to young children.


Yellowjacket sting in its sheath in the scanning electron microscope

The main type of construction of stings is a sharp organ of offense or defense, especially when connected with a venom gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The wasp has a very painful sting, and will sting if it feels threatened.

Stings are usually located at the rear of the animal. Animals with stings include bees, wasps (including hornets), scorpions[2] and some groups of ants.

Unlike most other stings, honey bee workers' stings (a modified ovipositor as in other stinging Hymenoptera) are strongly barbed and lodge in the flesh of mammals upon use, tearing free from the honey bee's body, leading to the bee's death within minutes.[2] The sting has its own ganglion and it continues to saw into the target's flesh and release venom for several minutes. This trait is of obvious disadvantage to the individual but protects the colony, comprising many sterile workers who are all sisters, from attacks by large animals; the shared genes of the colony are more likely to be passed on if it is defended vigorously. The barbs ensure that a honey bee's attack is only suicidal if the attacker is a relatively large animal; bees can sting other insects repeatedly and without dying. The sting of nearly all other bees and other stinged organisms is not barbed and can be used to sting mammals repeatedly; the barbs on the stingers of yellowjacket wasps and the Mexican honey wasp are so small that they do not cause the sting apparatus to pull free.

Other animals[edit]

Organs that perform similar functions in non-arthropods are often referred to as "stings", although they are all technically considered to be something else (e.g., a venomous barb). These include the modified dermal denticle of the stingray, the venomous spurs on the hind legs of the male platypus, and the cnidocyte tentacles of the jellyfish.

The term sting was historically often used for the fang (a modified tooth) of a snake,[3] although this usage is uncommon today; snakes are said, correctly, to bite, not sting.



In plants, the term "sting" is normally used as a verb, but occasionally used as a noun refer to urticating hairs; sharp-pointed hollow hairs seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in species of Urtica (nettles). The points of these hairs are brittle and break off easily, leaving a sharp point like a hypodermic needle, through which the fluid is injected.[4] On the other hand, the bristles of some cactuses are recovered by retrorse barbs (like the foxtail spikelets), preventing the fall once they are stung, and they are called glochids.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Oxford English dictionary, 2nd ed., sting n2, 3
  2. ^ a b Thomas Eisner, Maria Eisner, Melody Siegler (2005). Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and other Many-legged Creatures. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01882-2. 

External links[edit]

  • Media related to Stingers at Wikimedia Commons