Let’s talk about the queen bee (and no, I’m not talking about Beyonce). When we think of bees, many think about one thing: hierarchy . Bee hives follow a very strict hive and colony structure. Briefly summed up, the operations of a hive are as follows:
The queen does quite a bit to keep her hive together. She runs the hive, bosses the workers, and mates with the drones. Yet, there’s one thing you might have never wondered about the queen.
Queen bees do indeed have stingers! The stinger is an important tool that enables the queen to defend her hive and dispatch rival queens
Anatomy of the Queen Bee Stinger
Like worker bees, the queen bee’s stinger is a modified ovipositor (egg laying organ) located at the tip of her abdomen. The queen’s stinger contains three key components:
- A needle-like stylus in the middle
- Two serrated lancets on either side
The lancets have small barbs that allow the stinger to latch onto the target. The barbs on the queen’s stinger are smaller and smoother compared to worker bees. This allows the queen to sting repeatedly without losing her stinger.
When the queen stings, the lancets move back and forth along the stylus, driving the stinger deeper into the victim. The barbs anchor the stinger in place.
The Queen Uses Her Stinger Selectively
The queen bee is not aggressive and rarely stings humans She reserves her stinger specifically for dispatching rival queens.
Here are the main scenarios when the queen will deploy her stinger:
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Queen duels: When two queen bees encounter each other, they will engage in a fight to the death. The queen’s stinger allows her to deliver a lethal strike against the rival.
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Destroying queen cells: Amazingly, the queen will sting and kill developing queens still inside their queen cells. She uses her stinger to pierce the cell and eliminate potential competitors.
So in essence, the queen’s stinger serves as a highly specialized weapon to maintain her dominance as the one and only queen in the hive.
Queen Bee Stings Are Not Dangerous to Humans
Queen bees almost never sting people. Beekeepers regularly handle queens with bare hands to inspect, mark and introduce them to hives.
On the extremely rare occasion a queen does sting a human, it results in mild short-term pain. The venom from a queen bee sting is not dangerous compared to worker bees.
Here’s why queen stings are less potent:
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The queen produces significantly less venom than workers. Her sting releases only around 1/10th the volume of venom.
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The queen’s venom contains less melittin, the main toxin responsible for pain and inflammation.
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The queen’s stinger deposits less venom due to the smaller barbs.
So while the queen certainly does have a stinger, humans have little reason to fear it! She is a rather docile and gentle creature who directs her stinging capabilities at other queens, not us.
Comparisons Between Queen and Worker Bee Stingers
While both castes have stingers, there are some key differences:
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Pain level: The worker’s sting is much more painful due to higher venom volume and toxicity. The queen’s sting is mild.
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Barb size: The queen has smaller, smoother barbs that don’t lodge as deeply. Workers have large ragged barbs designed to get stuck.
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Number of stings: The queen can potentially sting multiple times without dying. Workers die shortly after one sting.
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Purpose: The queen strictly stings rival queens. Workers primarily sting to defend the colony.
Can a Queen Survive Without Her Stinger?
Queen bees are able to survive and continue laying eggs even without their stinger. However, a queen that cannot sting is at a major disadvantage.
If a queen gets into a duel with another queen but cannot sting, she will almost certainly be killed. She depends on her stinger as her sole means of dispatching rivals.
A queen also uses her stinger to destroy queen cells. If she cannot sting, she loses the ability to control the reproductive output of the hive.
So while a stingerless queen can technically survive and rule the colony, she faces threats from all sides without this important weapon. Beekeepers definitely prefer queens with intact stingers to ensure longevity and dominance.
The queen bee’s stinger allows her to enforce her queenly authority. She uses it sparingly but precisely against rival queens who might attempt to usurp the throne. The queen bee lives a relatively non-violent life, so we are fortunate her stinger is rarely deployed against people.
With a special stinger comes a special range of responsibilities
Worker bees use their stinger to protect against threats they encounter when they’re out foraging. In contrast, queen bees aren’t like workers. They don’t leave the hive to forage for nectar and pollen. They have just one primary responsibility, a responsibility that protects the hierarchy of the hive: reproduction and egg-laying.
(Fun Fact: Queens don’t even make honey!)
Does the queen bee have a stinger?
Yes! The queen bee does have a stinger! In fact, she has quite a unique stinger. Drones and workers have a barbed stinger that they embed into the body of whichever animal they sting. Queen bees, in contrast, have a stinger similar to wasps. They have a smooth stinger. This means that they can sting multiple times without (literally) risking tearing their bodies apart.
Are Queen Bee Stings More Dangerous? (We Found Out)
FAQ
Will the queen bee sting you?
How do you tell if a bee is a queen?
What bees have no stingers?
How many stingers does a queen bee have?
When would a queen bee use her stinger?
When a queen encounters another queen, the result is often a fight-to-the-death. In such a fight, a queen’s stinger serves as her primary weapon. When a queen bee attacks another queen, it is her stinger that delivers the deathblow.
What kind of Stinger do queen bees have?
This is because, again, of the fact that queen bees do not have barbed stingers. Ordinary worker bees typically lose their stinger after stinging something because their barbs get stuck in the flesh and tear away when the bee pulls out. Queen bees have smooth stingers, which may allow them to sting multiple times.
What does a queen bee sting do?
The queen bee has a barbed but smoother stinger and can, if need be, sting skin-bearing creatures multiple times, but the queen does not leave the hive under normal conditions. Her sting is not for defense of the hive; she only uses it for dispatching rival queens, ideally before they can emerge from their cells.
Does a queen honeybee have a stinger?
While the queen bee has a smooth stinger, she mostly uses it against rival queen bees. Worker bees have barbed stingers that they use for defending the hive. All worker bees are sterile females. Their stingers are an evolutionary adaptation of the ovipositors that are unused, since they do not lay eggs.