Differences between a bumblebee and a bee and a wasp. Important information about bees, wasps and bumblebees, what are their differences in behavior and life activity? Habitat of bees, wasps and bumblebees

Bees are perhaps one of the most interesting insects on our planet. No other species has been so successful in winning the love and respect of humans. These tireless workers, although already quite well studied, still never cease to amaze us. What is most notable about bees: Interesting Facts from their lives, let's find out together.

From the life of bees

Probably everyone knows that bees are small and very hardworking insects. But I would like to ask a question - what interesting facts do we know about bees? What else is so unusual in their lives that we are surprised and admired? There are some interesting facts that everyone should know.

Winged architects

Have you ever seen a honeycomb? As you know, insects make them from wax, which is secreted by special glands. In honeycombs they deposit pollen, store honey, and also raise offspring. However, not everything is so simple with these unusual hexagonal buildings. Without using rulers and other computing tools, winged workers amazingly It is possible to build hexagons that are perfectly even and correct according to all mathematical laws. One can only guess where architect bees get such amazing abilities.

The hexagonal shape of the cell has a triangular bottom, which is also part of the bottom of three chambers opposite side cellular The transverse diameter of each chamber is 5.37 mm - no more, no less. Each cell has its own constant depth: 10 mm in southern regions and 12 mm - in the northern ones.

As scientists have found out, this shape of a hexagonal hollow prism was chosen for a reason, because only 1 cm2. a honeycomb can accommodate up to 8000 cells.

Amazing bee venom

Many people have probably heard about special form therapy - bee venom. People suffering from joint pain often use the sting of these insects. So, the basis of the poison is the toxin melittin, but few people know that its effect is so strong that it can suppress the spread of HIV in the blood. Modern scientists have already proven this by discovering another mystery of bees. Melittin manages to break through the protective shell of the virus and completely destroy it.

In addition, bee venom toxin increases the production of anti-inflammatory hormone in the human body. Therefore, it can be successfully used for pain relief, as well as to enhance the healing of injuries and damage. For example, already in the USA, melittin is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Flower dancing

Have you ever wondered how bees know what flowers to pick, where to fly, and what to do? It turns out that in addition to their language of communication, they convey information through body movements, that is, a kind of dance. With various movements, scout insects show each other the distance to the flowers. In this case, the angle of inclination of the body indicates the position relative to the sun, and horizontal movements indicate the distance. By telling information to its relatives, a bee can repeat the dance up to 100 times.

Interesting facts about bees have been sorted out, but what do wasps hide in their lives? After all, these insects are no less smart than their striped relatives.

Wasp colony

Unlike bees, wasps build their nests and raise families alone. So, in the spring, one female builds a nest and lays eggs there. After about 26 days, the larvae hatch, and for the first time they eat the food brought by the “mother.” It is noteworthy that all adults are born of the same sex - females. They naturally have underdeveloped ovaries, so they cannot produce offspring and only take care of the house.

At this time, the “mother” lays eggs again and the colony increases. Males and other fertile females appear only in autumn. Then they fly away during the mating season, the males die after mating, and the females-to-be hibernate.

Wasps recognize each other by their faces

As it turns out there is another one in the life of wasps unusual fact- they are able to distinguish between their relatives. However, this ability is only available to social species OS, where there is its own hierarchy. And those individuals that live alone cannot distinguish faces.

Favorites

Wasps are characterized by one more feature that is no longer found in the world of insects and even many animals - attachment to individual offspring. Japanese scientists at Kyushu University were able to identify the fact that the mother wasp pays much more attention and care to some larvae in the nest than others. As a rule, these larvae are more developed than others and larger. This is due largely to the instinct of preserving the nest. After all, larger and stronger individuals will be able to better protect and preserve the family.

What do we know about bumblebees?

The bumblebee is an unusual relative of bees. However, for science it represents a kind of mystery and even a paradox. And this is largely due to its aerodynamic abilities. According to all the laws of physics, this insect should not have the ability to fly. But it flies and even very successfully. Find out some more interesting things from their lives now.

Forwarding bumblebees

Like bees, most of the family consists of workers, only in bumblebees these are forwarders. They fly to flowers in the summer, collect nectar and bring it to the nest. These are also immature females that have very good eyesight. They distinguish colors, choose the brightest buds and collect nectar on them. Beginners choose different flowers, but the masters of their business prefer only the most fragrant individual species plants.

Hard workers

It is generally accepted that bees are hard workers, but bumblebees are no less industrious. Moreover, they are very useful, since they pollinate those types of flowers that bees bypass. The fact is that bumblebees have much larger proboscis and can get nectar even from particularly deep buds. They also fly for bribes in bad weather. When striped workers usually sit in the hive, bumblebees work hard in the fields.

Bumblebees fly for bribes in rain, thunderstorms, and even before dawn and after sunset. And they work 5 times faster than bees.

Loud buzzing

Those who saw the bumblebee were more than once surprised by its loud buzzing. But this is a necessary condition for collecting nectar. A bumblebee, flying up to a flower, begins to buzz loudly and rattle its wings, thereby shaking out pollen and nectar from the stamens. Then he freely collects them and flies home. In hot weather, individual individuals stand near the entrance to the nest and begin to buzz loudly, thus ventilating the house.

Video " Professor Pochemushkin:Why do bees need honey?»

Do you want your child to also know a lot about bees and honey in particular? Then this educational cartoon will be useful. Don't deny yourself some interesting information.

Among the insects flying in the meadow, there are three genera that a person encounters quite often in his life: the bee, the wasp and the bumblebee. It's difficult to confuse them. They vary greatly in color and size. But sometimes this is possible if you do not delve into the details of the color of a large insect that has flown into the window. We are accustomed to the fact that the bumblebee is the largest of these three species, but the predatory wasp is much larger, and the body length of some bumblebees is less than that of the bee. Therefore, you will have to understand in more detail how a wasp, a bee and a bumblebee differ from each other, and how they are similar.

Similarities

All three groups belong to the Hymenoptera family. Wasps, bees, and bumblebees are social insects and build nests. All three have stingers. Families are divided into queens, workers and male drones. After fertilization of the female, the workers expel the male parasites. They defend their nests by attacking the whole family.

Bees and bumblebees belong to the family of true bees and. Bumblebee honey is superior in quality to bee honey, but cannot be stored for a long time. Both genera of these insects are beneficial plant pollinators.

They have a smooth sting that they can use repeatedly. Many bumblebees have almost the same body coloring.

This is where the similarities end. Now let’s talk about how a wasp, a bee, and a bumblebee differ from each other.

Differences

There are much more signs by which you can determine who is flying around. Using them, it is unmistakably possible to recognize whether an insect belongs to a particular family.

In the first place is “hairiness”. In terms of hairiness, the rating of insects looks like this:

1. Bumblebee.
2. Bee.

Large wasps and small bumblebees are easy to confuse even by color. Among these unrelated insects, there are species that are similar in color and arrangement of markings. But wasps are always “bald”.

The bee occupies an intermediate place in terms of hairiness and often also appears “bald” to the inattentive observer. In fact, it has bristles, but they are short and sparse.

Coloring

The degree of color is quite easy: the first one is always dark brown. The stereotype of striped honey collectors comes from cartoons. You can compare photos of a bee and a bumblebee. The differences will be immediately noticeable.

The other two insects can have not only striped, but also almost uniform coloring. For example, glitter wasps are iridescent, and typhias are solid black. But usually people only consider wasps to be insects with black and yellow stripes on their bodies. This does not prevent representatives of other families from also biting painfully and sometimes being more dangerous.

Body size

Insects may have almost no differences in length, which means that it is difficult to say which one is just by indicating the body length. we're talking about. But the overall dimensions give a clear idea of ​​who is who. This is another point in how a bumblebee differs from a bee or wasp.

On a note!

At equal to length The body of a representative of the genus Bombus is always larger and more massive than graceful bees and wasps.

Diet and storage of supplies

Here the greatest differences are observed between these three representatives of the order Hymenoptera. The family of true bees are vegetarians and feed on nectar and pollen from flowers. Wasps - with a bias towards the sphere of predators and scavengers.

The difference between a bee and a bumblebee in this area is that the former make provisions for the winter and leave for the winter with the whole family. The second needs honey only for feeding the larvae. Of the entire bumblebee family, only the queen remains for the winter. Therefore, although they know how to make honey, bumblebees do not prepare it and use it only for feeding larvae.

Wasps can eat:

• ripe fruits;
• jam;
• insects;
• carrion.

They feed the larvae with protein food. To do this, in nature, workers catch insects, including green corpse flies. In urban environments, they bite off small pieces of meat at the market or find the corpse of a dead animal.

They do not make reserves for the winter, since the entire aspen family dies out in the fall, and only the queen “leaves” for the winter.

Nests

A family of real bees, in the absence of ready-made artificial hives and bumblebees, finds a suitable cavity and begins to build honeycombs there. Their nests have no a certain shape, since they depend on the cavity in which the queen has settled.

The most common and familiar to us, real wasps, at the sight of which people are not mistaken about the identity of the insect, build nests on their own. In Russia, there can be two types: a vertically elongated top (the kind they draw in cartoons) and a curved “plate” irregular shape. The “plate” resembles a sunflower core from which the seeds have been removed.

The “extended top” may turn out to be a nest of hornets.

Wasps build their nests from chewed cellulose glued together with saliva. The structure of the nest material strongly resembles thick paper.

Stings

The bee has serrations and a “lock” on the tip. This prevents the stinger from being removed from the victim's body. Therefore, the worker defending the nest dies after the attack. For this reason, bees attack themselves only if you climb into their hive.

Insects can easily remove bumblebee and wasp stings from the victim and use them again. The pain from a bite directly depends on their size. Moreover, the wasp often bites “just like that.” With a bumblebee, you have to try really hard to get it to sting.

Behavior

Bumblebee is a loner. If disturbed, it will fly away. Representatives of the genus Bombus attack only if the nest is in danger.

A solitary worker bee can sometimes hover around an object, determining the degree of its danger to itself. But it won’t sting if you don’t wave your arms or make sudden movements. They attack together only when attacking a hive.

The wasp is the most quarrelsome and annoying creature of all three. Can hover around an object for a long time. And it often stings because “I want it that way.”

If they suddenly disappear

Ecologists around the world are sounding the alarm, pointing to a decline in the number of bee and bumblebee families. If you imagine that wasps, bumblebees, and bees suddenly disappeared, then hardly anyone will notice the absence of the former. Their place will be taken by other lovers of insects and carrion. It doesn't make much difference who will destroy the pests. However, we should not forget that in addition to harm, they are just like their relatives.

But humanity will immediately feel the disappearance of pollinators. Without bees - pollinators of a significant part fruit trees and bushes and bumblebees working on clover and in greenhouses, humanity will suffer famine. But scientists don’t yet know what to do about the decline in pollinator numbers.

Finally, some interesting facts about bees, wasps and bumblebees:

• After the queen is fertilized, the bees attack the drones and drive them out of the hive forever. “When free,” the drones quickly die, since they cannot obtain food for themselves.
• Wasps, but few have seen him. This almost microscopic droplet at the bottom of the new cell is needed by the larva only for the first time, until it becomes able to consume protein food.
• Bumblebees wake up earlier than everyone else and are the first to collect nectar.
• The hornet is a predator that prefers live prey.
• A worker bee can tell family members the way to a food source.

All these insects are very interesting, if you do not treat them as annoying and unnecessary creatures. They bring more benefit than harm, and there is no need to destroy them without extreme need.

Bees, wasps, bumblebees, hornets. Having mastered ants, caterpillars, butterflies and beetles, we can safely move on to bees, wasps, bumblebees and hornets. They live next to physalis in petunias, in the attic of a barn and in jars of jam. In these places, we will eventually become resistant to 0.6 to 0.9 SD. Bees are the closest relatives of ants. If you carefully examine the ant and the bee stinging you, you will not be able to help but notice how similar they are at that moment. Both at this moment have antennae, a waist and an abdomen. For this reason, ants and bees are combined into one order - the Hymenoptera, and because they are located on you, into the suborder of the stinging Hymenoptera. They have a huge number of families and subfamilies. Although, according to the latest data, they are the same animals at different stages of development. Bees, wasps, bumblebees and hornets are warm-blooded animals; their body temperature often exceeds air temperature by 30 degrees Celsius. The homes where they live are always warm, cheerful and cozy. The source of thermal energy and low hum is the mechanical vibration of the chest and abdomen - the result of rapid contraction of the animal's muscles. The animal does not have to fly somewhere. The animal is capable of humming and heating up with fixed wings. Get your hands on a domestic honey bee, Apis mellifera. Overcoming pain and fainting, warm yourself with its warmth and consider the mystery of the sting. There is little that can outshine this beauty. The sting is carried out with a sting, which is a double-edged dagger made of damask steel with grooves for blood flow, at the same time - a thin surgical instrument, as well as an unsurpassed cutting ax. The hornet's sting cuts through iron like a knife through butter. The sting of the rider in one pass from five meters hits one single the desired cell victims regardless of their size. The accuracy is amazing. The sting of a German bee is capable of cutting up an animal carcass like a real butcher. Just have time. The filamentous gland of the stinging apparatus - the sting, which doubles as an ovipositor, contains a secret - the source of bee venom, one of the best allergens in the world. The gland is essentially sexual. When they meet you, the accessory glands of the ovipositor turn into poisonous acidic and alkaline glands. Often the sting of a bee or hornet can become an independent animal. So, the sting of a working honey bee, the same one you picked up, has serrations so that it will remain in your hands forever. The sting left by the bee for independent life is equipped with muscles that, contracting without any bee, inject poison into you as long as you live. The muscles around the membranaceous venom gland are incredibly strong. They have such power that sometimes they do not need cutting tool. The ants we know live without a sting. Their muscles around the acidic poisonous gland occupy almost the entire abdomen and, when contracted, produce a stream of formic acid of such strength that it can penetrate through and dissolve all living things within a radius of many tens of meters. Another one characteristic feature stinging hymenoptera in collectivism. Their instincts are subdued common cause- “pick up” you in full, which ultimately led to the creation of one of the most amazing phenomena nature - the "society" of insects. Animals leading a social lifestyle, such as other people, have always been considered the most dangerous to humans. Bees and ants are just such social animals. In order to terrify all living things, they form communities or families. Therefore, be prepared that they will kill you together, in a large, well-organized crowd. Let's look at one first. An individual specimen will delight you with a thick, colorless liquid with a characteristic odor and bitter taste. The poison is heat-resistant. Freezing the poison injected into you to the deepest low temperatures and heating it to 115 °C will not lead to anything good; it will not improve your condition, but will only enhance the already unforgettable sensations. But the poison will easily dissolve in water. We'll tell you how to use this later. Bee venom has an advantage over other previously mastered venoms, since in the solid state it remains active for up to 40 years. Perfectly suited for harvesting for future use. The chemical composition of the poison has not been precisely established. Now we will list only the most popular components known today under common name apitoxin (from Lat. apis - bee and Greek toxikуn - poison). So, bee venom contains: biologically active protein melittin, enzymes: hyaluronidase, lecithinase A, phospholipase A and B, acid phosphatase, proteases, DNAases, free amino acids, biogenic amines, histamine, histamine glycoside, dopamine, adrenaline, serotonin, acetylcholine , polypeptides, apamin, MSD-peptide, tertiapine, secapin, histamine soder, tetra- and pentapeptides, kinin, lipids and substances close to saponins of animal origin, formic and other acids, fats, steroid-like substances, volatile oils, water, vitamins, microelements . The sheer number of names can give you chills. And that's all for us. The poisons are highly toxic, causing both local and general toxic effect. The pattern of damage depends on the type of insect, the number of stings, family size, our experience and other factors. Poisonous insects This class is very diverse. From the smallest, such as the ammophila wasp, with venom that causes paralysis, to the largest, like an enlarged copy of the common bee that we hold in our hands, Apis mellifera scutellata, with inevitable severe, irreversible hemolysis - irreversible damage to red blood cells. The weakest - the bumblebee Bombus impatiens, circling over the crocuses in the corner of the garden, has a lethal dose of only 7.2 mg per kg of your still living weight. Let's use math to help. It turns out 432 mg per individual human species. This is three and a half times weaker than potassium cyanide. But it’s already two and a half times better than the Colorado potato beetle. We throw the beetles and run to him. An ordinary bee frolicking nearby in the grandmother's clover Apis mellifera will give us 3.5 mg/kg or half a tablet of potassium cyanide. If desired, 0.5 lethal dose is guaranteed. After the bumblebee, just a gift. Although the amount of poison released during a sting is small, on average 0.2 - 0.4 mg, even single bites can lead to painful death. Symptoms of poisoning among crocuses and petunias require a separate description. This may include pain, swelling, hyperemia; in the case of hornets, necrotic processes, allergic reactions, urticaria, and laryngeal edema are possible. The favorite target of poisons of social bees and wasps is the autonomic and central nervous systems, damage to which immediately causes tachycardia, convulsions and paralysis, pain in the heart, general weakness, and prolonged fainting. Possible death from respiratory paralysis. Treatment is symptomatic, that is, depending on the symptoms, which change every minute. Therefore, take your time, disperse the doctors, wait for everyone, take a closer look. First, a so-called anaphylactic reaction occurs. Characterized by a monstrous flow rate. In fact, this is a real miracle. For another minute the man was normal, talking with flowers, and suddenly, in an instant, the man no longer talks to anyone, and practically does not think about anything. An allergic reaction to histamine does not allow time to realize what it was. Anaphylactic (allergic) reaction is a separate, exciting, making you forget everything in the world, short story. The reaction occurs in people before they are able to determine their sensitivity to certain substances alive and inanimate nature- antigens, primarily histamine. After such allergens enter the human body, an uncontrollable reaction immediately occurs with the formation of large quantities of biologically active substances- mediators. In terms of speed, the process can be compared to an uncontrolled nuclear reaction. An anaphylactic reaction is like an explosion. The released mediators instantly lead to changes in vascular tone, tissue swelling and other pathological changes. On the skin in real time, urticaria, skin rashes of various shapes, sizes and shades, Quincke's edema, angioedema, bubbles are formed, similar in number, size, speed of swelling and bursting with soap bubbles. It is better not to look at the mucous membranes at this moment; local anaphylaxis occurs there - allergic croup. A killer runny nose and bronchial asthma, fainting, shock are examples of the painstaking, careful and at the same time rapid work of histamine. The reaction is always followed by shock. Anaphylactic shock is the culmination of an anaphylactic reaction, the general, last, severe reaction of the body before its departure, characteristic of all sensitive people. It is associated with taking medications, injecting drugs or vaccines used against bee and bumblebee stings. Shock is characterized by difficulty breathing, chills, increased body temperature, shortness of breath, dizziness, tachycardia, nausea, drop in blood pressure, convulsions, respiratory arrest, lack of blood pressure, development of fainting, loss of consciousness and failure to return consciousness. It would seem that everything is over, but no, hemolysis occurs. Hemolysis is a condition that requires maximum concentration. Already on an almost lifeless body, a burning pain occurs at the site of the bite; a pale papule with a ring of hyperemia and swelling of the surrounding tissues of varying extent spreads from it. We have before us vivid symptoms of the onset of hemolysis or hemoglobinuria, the results of the action of protein. Damage to red blood cells is especially pronounced with bites to the face, neck, ear and back of the head; in this case, swelling is most pronounced in the increased size of the head, and is often accompanied by lymphadenitis. When bitten in the eye, hemolysis is accompanied by lacrimation, conjunctivitis, and blepharitis. It is better not to think about a bite in the eye. Deadly symptoms may also include strange behavior of the body. Suddenly, long-troubling trophic ulcers and thrombophlebitis go away. The poison has an anti-inflammatory effect. Against the background of fatal poisoning, a person temporarily experiences joint diseases, myositis, radiculitis, neuralgia, urticaria, migraine, suicidal syndrome, etc. Don’t flatter yourself, these are the same sure signs fatal poisoning, such as suffocation or convulsions, perhaps even more terrible than respiratory arrest - a sign of an anaphylactic reaction and its logical result - shock of the same name. You can increase the effectiveness of the poison if you approach it with infectious disease. Before being bitten, it is advisable to make sure that you have liver, kidney, blood, diabetes, cardiovascular, mental illness, individual hypersensitivity to bee venom and physical labor. All of the above contributes to the most complete satisfaction from the effects of the poison. The poison also works well against people engaged in mental work. Like any allergen, histamine primarily affects individuals associated with any kind of work. Histamine has no miraculous effect on people who are motionless and do not think about anything. This, by the way, applies to many other animals and not only animal toxins. We come to a paradoxical, but very important, scientifically based conclusion, valid for the entire theory of life safety: immobility is the basis of life. If you don't feel well, first of all, don't move. People say: “don’t fuss,” which is essentially true. And the expression: “Well, did you jump?” should be taken literally. What else can save? Little. Now that we have waited for hemolysis and shock, all their symptoms, we need to find the sting. There may be several of them, in different parts of the body, at the epicenters of the distribution of the sensations described above. Before removing the sting, make sure that the poison has run out and the bottle filled with poison is empty. It is a good idea to wash the wound with alcohol so as not to disturb the purity of the experiment or cause an unplanned infection. After this, it is necessary to use organic solvents, heavy metal salts, concentrated alkalis and acids, and oxidizing agents internally. Anything that successfully inactivates apitoxin. Does not withstand bee venom and direct sunlight. Don't refuse. In your situation it is too late to refuse. After confirming the diagnosis by additional symptoms resulting from the use of concentrated alkalis and acids, you can try cold on the sting site. With multiple bites, a circular infiltration novocaine blockade of the bite sites sometimes helps. In severe cases, adrenaline, corticosteroids and antihistamines, and vitamin preparations may help a little. In total, you need to consume a total of 400 ml of drugs: diphenhydramine, pipolfen, glucocorticoid, calcium chloride, calcium gluconate, sodium bicarbonate, hydrocortisone, prednisolone, rutin, nicotinic acid. After this, you need to take a break and smoke. We promised to talk about the beneficial effects of Nicotine nicotine. Thanks to the alkaloid nicotine or pyridine methyl pyrrolidine contained in tobacco, we owe the world's best analeptic. Analeptics (from the Greek analeptikos - restorative, strengthening) stimulate or restore the functions of the respiratory and vasomotor centers of the medulla oblongata, as well as the heart. Stimulation of the respiratory center occurs due to the direct effect of the drug on the respiratory center of direct and reverse action. Analeptics increase peripheral vascular resistance and increase systemic arterial pressure. Analeptics also weaken various shapes central braking. In the brain, under their influence, oxygen consumption increases and the content of norepinephrine increases - the second brain hormone after adrenaline, but no less important for the body. Its action has a significant stimulating effect on the heart. Outwardly, this manifests itself in an excellent reaction and mobilization of all the forces of the body. For this reason, the beneficial properties of smoking in stressful situations difficult to overestimate. In every way, nicotine is life. After a smoke break, if seizures develop, you can add seduxen and diazepam. At the end of the convulsions - rheopolyglucin, polyglucin. After a natural deterioration from so many medications taken, add prednisolone and mezatone. You can then tell the deceased's loved ones that you did everything possible. In fact, this entire set of dubious drugs and painful procedures is replaced by three liters of relatively clean, in fact, any water. Drinking plenty of fluids is one of the most effective means of combating toxins, including toxins from the causative agents of colds. In this sense, people are mistaken; it’s never too late to drink Borjomi. Drinking must be alternated with copious amounts of drinking in any way available to a person. We will not list these methods. They are well known to everyone. Let us just emphasize that everyone. Everyone without exception. Yes, yes, these too. No need to be embarrassed. We'll be embarrassed later when we get out. Water is suitable for all poisons with the exception of a group of toxins that destroy the structure of intestinal cells, such as cholera toxin. In this case, the intestines cease to fulfill their function of supplying the body with anything, primarily water. Everything goes right through. In this case, those who have not read this chapter cannot do without an IV. For those who have read, irreversible functional impairment caused by deadly poison cholera may seem like mild indigestion. Now, knowing about the possible consequences, let's turn to practical recommendations, the technique of selecting an animal and obtaining a precious sting. Much depends on the character of the animal. Only females are poisonous, as everywhere else. The venom of an individual individual, as has been said, is small, but no one knows how many females there are in the family and how many times each individual will sting. Sometimes it is difficult to guess the size of a community and its character. To do this, irritation should be caused in an individual animal. Which is not difficult at all. There are few living creatures whom we do not irritate, especially in childhood. By irritating one animal, we very quickly learn how many animals are in the family and how they are tuned. Your humble servant, as a child, being an inquisitive boy, poured an eight-hundred-gram jar of water into a nest of earth wasps, was attacked, received six bites to the head, and would have died immediately if he had known how dangerous it was. We now know that the effects of insect venom depend on for the most part on the location of the bite, the number of bites and individual tolerance. The author of these lines knew nothing about this as a child. He rightly believed that all places were the same. This saved him. Traditionally, bites to the head and other places close to the brain are considered dangerous. Since the location of a person’s brain is very individual, earth wasp bites to the head turned out to be not so close to the brain of our hero. Another control bite took place in a different place, much lower than the head, but it also turned out to be not so close to the hero’s brain. So the author added resistance to 0.7 lethal dose to the already existing 0.5 from active games with beetles and caterpillars, sitting on an anthill for many days, eating many tons of nettles and pine needles. Your humble servant did not stop there. After a useful episode with ground wasps, the author in childhood, and the author’s childhood was not only difficult, but also long, read from Khalifman picturesque descriptions of unbearable pain from the bite of the hornet Vespa orientalis. So colorful that the author wanted to be bitten immediately. He was not slow to take advantage of this desire. The opportunity was not long in coming. Well, what can I say? So-so. The author of these lines expected more as a child, although it might not have been a hornet. When affected by hornet venom, hemorrhage and hemolysis are characteristic, which are associated with certain experiences. Instead of the expected swelling, blisters and papules, the author experienced cramps and fainting, no different from the daily cramps and fainting associated with the need to do homework. The preliminary preparation had an effect. The lethal dose of hornet venom is 2.5 mg per kg of body weight or a little more than a diphenhydramine tablet per person. The strength of the poison is only one and two tenths times less than that of potassium cyanide. The poison of the wasp H. Joglandis is of the same strength. It is stronger than the poisons of bumblebees and bees, but not as much as it might seem from Khalifman’s chilling stories. Another danger that can unexpectedly lie in wait is multiple bites from the same individual. This happens infrequently, usually the animal stings no more than ten times, but it still happens. Then the number of bees, wasps, bumblebees and hornets in the family must be multiplied by the arbitrary number of stings of each member. Quite a difficult mathematical problem. The one mentioned is not the most dangerous African subspecies honey bee Apis mellifera, the bee Apis mellifera scutellata stings as many times as it sees you. Her eyesight is relatively good, your appearance is bright and memorable, her flight speed is significantly higher than your running speed. It may well turn out that total of injected poison by the end of the marathon will exceed three or more lethal doses. IN Lately there is a lot of talk about so-called mutant insects. We see this as a serious threat. No one knows in advance what strength of histamine a bee will produce and what family it belongs to. this moment relates For example, a paper wasp living in the attic, when it sees you, will have no difficulty attributing itself to the wasp genus P. badius or the very similar P. rugosus with a lethal dose of poison of 0.45 mg/kg. This poison is already four and a half times stronger than potassium cyanide. One bite is equal to a teaspoon of this powder. It’s even simpler with a honey bee that imagines itself to be a bee from the genus Pogonomyrmex comanche, then its poison kills in an amount of 0.25 mg/kg - with one sting it will give almost two teaspoons of potassium cyanide. The number of bites should be recorded. The recommended frequency is 300-500 bites annually. Having fulfilled the specified standard, our body will gain resistance to 0.9 lethal doses. We will approach a critical point - resistance to one lethal dose. Once we overcome it, it will become much easier to move on. After reading three sections of this chapter, we have become immune to histamine, the poison of winged predators. We increased resistance to most polypeptides, as well as one of the most terrible poisons, ladybug batrachotoxin. Needless to say, at this stage a person stops getting the flu. He becomes immune to the toxins of animals that excite him. The flu is also an animal, only a small one. The leader in this section is the Pogonomyrmex comanche bee. Based on the results of three sections, the Nanisani beetle is still in the lead, its poison is 120 times stronger than poison the most dangerous hymenoptera, but we dare to assure you that the championship of his squad will not last long - just two more sections. Everything that we have described refers only to the preparatory stage in the development of animal toxins. There are serious challenges ahead, which we have finally achieved. See the chapter "To True Friends". With gratitude to the Internet for the information provided about the subject of conversation, special thanks to the sites that responded to the requests: “dangerous animals”, “deadly dangerous animals”, “the most deadly animals”. Special thanks to the electronic versions of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and pages.

It is difficult to imagine nature without insects that crawl, fly, and buzz. They are attracted by the aroma of flowers, the sweet smell of fruits and berries. Many people have experienced the pain of being bitten by a buzzing insect. How dangerous are they for people and how can they be distinguished by their appearance? What could be the consequences of the poison entering the victim’s body?

Wasp, bee, bumblebee, hornet - differences

Representatives of the insect family have both similarities and significant differences. They all fly, buzz and pose a threat in the form of a bite that releases a toxic substance. You need to understand that insects attack when there is a threat to life and in other cases they are not dangerous.

Bees are quite calm, hardworking, busy all day collecting nectar and pollen. Goes to the hive 24/7 work on the structure of honeycombs, feeding the younger generation, ventilation, processing and storage of the collected product. The lifespan of a worker bee is short, about a month, but rapid development of the younger generation, invisible to others.

What is the difference between a bumblebee and a bee?

Regardless of the similarity of a bee and a bumblebee in the structure of their wings, there are many factors that distinguish them. The bumblebee and the bee are close relatives. Their habitat is very extensive. There are about 300 species of bumblebees living throughout the continents. Distinctive feature This species is a shiny covering of the hind legs of the female from the fold to the edge, covered with long hairs, which represent a basket for collecting pollen. The abdomen is round, not tucked, the segments are hard, the organs of the reproductive system have dark color. Internal structure tubular sting. Venom passes through this channel after penetrating the skin of the sting, superstructure which is without notches, thanks to which the injections are made repeatedly, without harm to the insect itself.

There are about 300 species of bumblebees from about 50 subgenera known in the world.

The bee family has more than 20 thousand species, many of which have not been studied. They are the main pollinators and pollen collectors, honey producers. There are three pairs of legs on the abdomen, with villi on the inside. On the hind legs, villi form baskets for collecting pollen. The abdomen consists of dense segments, bent to the bottom. The sting is empty inside, the upper covering of the sting is with notches, which, when bitten, are hooked by the barbs onto the edges of the puncture. After tearing off the sting with a piece of the abdomen, the insect soon dies.

There are about 21 thousand species and 520 genera of bees

The difference between a bee and a bumblebee can be determined visually:

• A bumblebee is twice as large as a bee, its body is round.
• The coloring of a bumblebee is brighter than that of a bee.
• Bees are used on farms to collect pollen and pollinate plants in gardens and fields in open areas, bumblebees are used to pollinate plants in greenhouses.
• Sting Use - A bumblebee uses its sting many times. The bee only dies once.

Hornet and wasp - differences

How is a hornet different from a wasp? The hornet is the largest representative of the wasp family. Its body length is more than five centimeters. The differences between a hornet and a wasp include not only size, but also body structure. The head is large, wide at the back of the eyes, the chest area is large, wide, dark in color. The belly has the same structure as that of a wasp, but is much larger.

The most major representatives hornet genus (Vespa mandarinia) measure up to 55 mm in length

The difference between a hornet and a wasp is the use of material to build a nest:

• The wasp uses thin tree fibers to build its structure, moistens it with secretions that make up its saliva, chewing them until the desired state with saliva, and is used in the construction of honeycombs. In appearance, the nest resembles a round roll of paper with numerous parallel layers, the honeycombs of which are located on the lower side of the layer.
• The Hornet uses the same method of construction, but uses rotted tree fibers and stumps for its material. When used, this material gives the nest a dark, brown tone.

The hornet spreads throughout the entire country, except for the far north, and is considered an endangered species in many areas. The wasp also lives throughout the territory except the northern regions, but is considered a useless, stinging insect.

Important! The hornet's sting is very painful, releasing a highly concentrated paralytic venom. In people with allergic diseases, the poison causes anaphylactic shock; without emergency help, the person may die.

Wasps are distant relatives of bees and ants. They do not care for the offspring; once they lay an egg in a cell, they seal it and throw it away.

Wasp with prey

Nests are built in any suitable places:

• between branches;
• in burrows underground;
• in buildings, in the form of a round roll of paper.

The hornet's sting reaches up to 5 mm in length. It attacks a person only in case of danger to his life, using a bite with his jaws, after which he can sting.

Important! By the nature of its aggressiveness, the wasp bites and stings simultaneously several times in a row.

The diet of both wasps and hornets includes:

• nectar;
• fruit juice, pollen;
• tree sap;
• insects - caterpillars and spiders.

How are bees different from wasps and bumblebees?

The bumblebee and the wasp have a significant difference in color; in the wasp it is provocative, bright yellow. The bumblebee is large, the body is round, fluffy, darker in color than the wasp. Bees and bumblebees feed on pollen and nectar, sucking it with their proboscis. Wasps are omnivorous insects - they consume pollen, nectar, fruit juice, tree sap, small insects, and attack bee hives using sharp jaws, which are used to bite.

How to distinguish a hornet from a queen wasp

The main visual difference is in size.

For comparison: 3 cm – uterus, 2 cm – normal

Insects of the aspen family have thin waist, and a long belly. The hornet has a waist that is not as thin as that of a wasp, the size of the head and thoracic region and abdomen is much larger than that of a wasp and even the wasp queen, which is the largest in a wasp swarm. The color stripes of the wasp are bright yellow, alternating, with clearly defined edges along the connecting line.

Important! The hornet has an alternating orange tone at the beginning of the abdomen and the color transition along the lines is not so clear.

Who is stronger: wasp or bumblebee

Insects differ in the nature of their behavior - the bumblebee is a calm insect and uses its weapon in extreme cases, the wasp is very aggressive and attacks an enemy larger than it in size. Wasps often rob the nests of bumblebees, eating their supplies, using their stings and bites with their jaws when attacking. Healthy family bumblebees easily cope with the robbers, but if the family is weak, then the wasp swarm wins, which can kill not only the working bumblebees, but also the entire young generation of the bumblebee family.

Where do wasps and hornets spend the winter?

Over the summer, wasps accumulate a large amount of nutrients and hibernate in the winter, using their body's reserves. Single individuals can overwinter under tree bark, in tree hollows, in old destroyed stumps, and in crevices of outbuildings. Over the summer, a swarm can build a huge “paper” nest, but with the onset of autumn, the young generation must seek shelter for the winter and not return to the old nest.

During warm days, hornets build a nest, raise young animals and accumulate nutrients for wintering. In early autumn, young females fly out of the nest to look for a partner. After fertilization, they nest in crevices for wintering. With the onset of cold weather, worker hornets close the exits from the nest and can feed on supplies and eggs that are laid throughout the season.

Hornets' homes are structures made of paper, which they make from the young bark of trees.

In severe frosts, the worker hornets die, leaving only the queen in the nest, who will lay new eggs in the spring and create a new swarm. Wintering is a suspended animation sleep until early spring. With the first positive heat reading, the female wakes up and looks for a place to build a nest where she will lay eggs and hatch a new colony of hornets. Insects are considered an endangered species and are listed in the Red Book.

What stings a wasp, a bee and a hornet

The wasp is a very aggressive insect; when attacking, it uses its sting and jaws. Only females have a sting, this is a modified ovipositor, and all of them have biting jaws. She bites more often, but she can use her sting up to five times in a row. The number of injections and poison depends on the age of the insect; the older, the stronger.

The bee is not so aggressive by nature and attacks only if its life is threatened. She pierces the victim's skin with a modified ovipositor. The sting, having notches, catches on the puncture and breaks off along with a piece of the bee's belly. After this, the bee dies.

The hornet is as aggressive as a wasp and can attack a person who disturbs its habitat. The hornet both bites and stings. The sting is sharp and strong and can sting several times. Hornet venom is considered less toxic than bee venom. Based on the size of the insect and the amount of poison that enters the victim’s body through the sting, it poses a danger to human life.

Important! If a person’s body is weakened or susceptible to allergies, without assistance, anaphylactic shock and a tragic outcome may occur.

Knowing the difference between stinging insects, you can avoid the risks of encountering them. These insects not only sting, but also bring great benefits, and when you learn about them, you should treat them kindly.

The main advantage of a bee is its usefulness on the farm. These are the main producers of honey, wax, propolis, beebread, pollinators flowering plants. Wasps and bumblebees are also beneficial: bumblebees are used to pollinate greenhouse plants, wasps destroy many aphids and caterpillars during the season. Useless and a hornet's nest. Pressed into a jar and filled with alcohol for 10 days, the wasp nest is used in the form of a rub for treatment inflammatory processes in joints, for colds, and a dry ground nest - for sprinkling on ulcers, burns, for rinsing with periodontal disease, in the form of a powder for sweaty feet.

Wasps, bumblebees and bees belong to the same order of insects, the Hymenoptera. Despite many similarities, there are a number of significant differences.

If bumblebees and bees are represented by only a few species, then wasps have dozens of species, ranging from collective individuals to individuals with completely different habits. Sometimes there are more differences in varieties of one species than the difference between a wasp and a bee and a bumblebee.

Externally, bees are easily distinguished from wasps and bumblebees if the insect is not in motion. However, while in flight, distinguishing a specific species is quite problematic. Also, except external features Insect bites are also different.
There are reports of bees going back 15 thousand years. In the 17th century, scientists turned Special attention on the communication of bees in a team. Thus, they proved that insects transmit information using the language of dance: circular movements, flight patterns, etc.

Due to their diversity, arthropods are an excellent example of collective and individual effective survival.

Differences in the physical structure of arthropods

A significant difference is observed between the signs of the external structure.

Scientists divide the body of an arthropod representative into the following parts:

• head;
• abdomen;
• chest part;
• chitinous cover of an insect.

In the case of the head shape, the bee is clearly distinguished by its triangular appearance containing the center of the nerve connections. Along the central part there is a noticeable line, on both sides of which there are compound eyes of a black insect.

The complex design of the eye is a special example of a successful engineering solution. The organ consists of many plates (with a honeycomb shape); a round tube with the property of transmitting light goes into the center of the head.

Wasps have 2 pairs of wings made of membranous material. Depending on the species, the insect can reach from 1.5 cm to 10 cm. in length. On the lower front part of the head there are two segmented antennae that can move autonomously. Such an organ allows the insect to determine the level carbon dioxide and humidity, which is extremely useful in a dark hive.

The wasps received three pairs of legs, which in turn consist of 9 segments.

Table: What is the difference between a wasp and a bee and a bumblebee, a brief comparison.

Important! The weight of the uterus of arthropods differs significantly from other representatives of the hive.

At first glance, you can notice a more elongated and elongated version of the body. There is a term “wasp waist” which is expressed by an extremely small girth.

The whole body is brightly colored; some species have small areas with hairs. The jaws of a wasp are much larger than those of a bee. The color is very bright and clearly visible.

Bees have more pronounced legs. The color is more blurred, shaded. The connection between the abdomen and chest is not so sharp. The breast area has an abundant amount of hairs. The bee's back is gray-black.

As for the bumblebee, the individual is extremely large in size compared to its relatives. It has a similar color, but a thicker cover of hairs. The bumblebee is much fluffier and wider than bees. The tarsus of the species are also much wider. Yellow, reddish and red stripes may appear on the body. Some varieties may be completely black in color.

How to distinguish insects in flight? When flying, the wasp makes jerky movements with intervals freezing in place. Characterized by high speed and sharpness. In some cases, individuals are large in size, which makes them clumsy.

The bee moves more smoothly with more rounded flight paths. It is impossible to call her a slacker in view of her special status as a honey miner. This hard worker is the only supplier of honey on our tables.

The bumblebee is a real heavyweight, as a result of which the distance flies slowly and heavily.

In addition, the difference between bees and wasps and bumblebees is expressed in nutrition.

For example:

• the bumblebee forages for food alone and flies out in search of nectar earlier than other membranaceae;
• honey insects fly around the territory in small groups;
• wasps can search for food in swarms.

The bumblebee feeds on vegetarian food mainly on nectar, but some arthropods are omnivores and are also quite aggressive in capturing food.

As mentioned earlier, wasps are the most irritable. Most often it is wasps that bite. Thanks to its large jaws, the individual can bite a person. The wasp doesn't die after stinging, so they sting more. The sting venom causes unpleasant itching and pain, the intensity of which depends on the size of the insect. If you do not find a sting inside the wound after the bite, you can say that it was not a bee.

Important! The reason for an insect bite can even be a disliked smell or careless movement.

The bee takes care of its weapons and does not use them in vain, as this cripples their insides and they die after a while. The bees' sting is serrated and gets stuck in the victim. During a sting, bees send a signal to other bees, and they begin to help bite as a group. Bumblebees are most often alone and cope on their own.

Bee venom from wasp venom shows up in medicine. Bee toxins are used in medicine for apitoxin therapy (treatment with bee venom). However, you should have professional guidance doctors.

Attention! The bumblebee stings much more strongly than other insects, but weaker than the hornet.

The difference between bumblebees is their calm nature and most often representatives of the species do not show aggression and are the opposite of smaller arthropods. Their sting is smooth. Therefore it does not remain in the body of the victim.