Stinging insects belong to the order of insects known as Hymenoptera, which includes ants. Stinging insects are mostly beneficial pollinators as long as they do not give a threat to people or property.

However, you still need to know what insects are stinging. As you are outdoors in the beach, hiking in the mountains and even visiting a park, you may meet these stinging insects.

Besides insects, there are also some sea creatures that can sting. Animals are amazing with their magnificent characteristics!

After reading all these stinging insects, you can do some things to protect yourself from their sting. You can wear insect repellent, right clothes and be aware of your surroundings too.

Bees

Bees are producers of honey, however they are not as sweet as honey, especially if you get stung by them. Bee stings hurt and they can even be deadly to people who are allergic to bee venom.

However, bees are actually harmless as they don’t bother people unless people start it first. Just similar to wasps and hornets, they sting to protect themselves. So, you’ll be likely to get stung if you grab, step on or lean against one.

Despite the painful sting a bee may give you, you have to see the benefits of using honey bees for gardening. It can also be beneficial!

If you accidentally get stung by a bee, then you should remove the stinger as soon as possible as the longer the stinger remains in the skin, the more venom will be released into your body.

Instead of using tweezers, it is better to use the edge of a credit card to scrape the stinger out. Using tweezers is not recommended as it may squeeze more venom into the skin. Then, once the stinger is out, you can apply ice pack to the skin to slow down the spread of the venom.

If you see any bee hive in your yard, it is better for you to call a bee removal or pest control to remove the hive for you. Don’t ever do it by yourself unless you want to get lots of stings from all the angry bees!

Wasps

Wasps are different from bees. They tend to sting more than once while bees can only sting once. Wasp sting is also powerful. That’s why never ever bother them.

There are two famous species of wasps called paper wasps and mud daubers. They are called that way due to the shape of their nests that look like they are made of paper and mud. If your cat or pet accidentally gets stung by a wasp, make sure you know all these things to do when your cat gets stung by a wasp.

There are some flea-sized wasps, parasitic tamarixia wasps that are used to protect agriculture, such as in wine grapes. They are good at eating the glassy winged sharpshooter that spread Pierce’s disease.

Then, just like bee hives, if you find any wasps nesting around your house or under the roof’s eaves, call a pest removal company to remove them.

Ants

These small creatures are really annoying. You can find ants everywhere looking for water or food, turning your leftover food into a wriggling, black mess or marching in a trail of thousands into your room.

It is said that ants are wingless bees and wasps. You may know red-colored harvester ants, southern fire ants and red imported fire ants. All of them pack painful bites and stings.

However, it may only happen if you bother them. That’s why, stay away from them by not leaving any food or even your pet food outside, close up opening in doors and windows and put out ant bait traps. Also read this interesting article about how ants communicate with each other.

Hornet

Hornets are known as the largest of the eusocial wasps. They also have similar appearance to yellowjackets (their close relative). Hornets are equipped with stingers that are used to kill their prey and defend their nests.

Hornet stings are known to be more painful than typical wasp stings as they have venom that contains a large amount of acetylcholine. Similar to wasps, hornets can sting repeatedly.

The level of toxicity of the stings depend on the species. Once between July and September 2013, there were 42 people died in China because of hornet stings.

Asian giant hornet is known to be the most venomous species of hornet also caused 30 to 50 human deaths annually in Japan. That’s why hornet is listed as one of the dangerous animals in Japan.

Yellowjackets

You may be curious what kind of animal yellowjackets are. Yellowjackets belong to the family of wasps and known as the most aggressive of the stinging insects. They live in nests built into the ground or in structure on the ground.

They are also scavengers and mostly found around trashes. You may find the crawling into an open soda can or other sugary drinks. If a person takes a swig, they will sting. Because they are scavengers, their stings may also cause skin infection.