A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson

Author:Dave Goulson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jonathan Cape

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Bee Enemies

A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.

Alexander Pope

One of the more obvious features of bumblebees is that most are attractively coloured, with bright bands of yellow, and red or white bottoms. They are brightly coloured for a reason: they have a sting. Or at least the females do – it evolved from the egg-laying tube – and they use it to defend the nest against invaders, such as cuckoo bees, or predators. Bumblebees are generally good-natured creatures and almost never use their sting when away from the nest, preferring to fly away if disturbed when foraging. Even in their nest, many species are not very aggressive; I have dug up nests of the early bumblebee without needing any protective gear, the adult bees simply clustering around their brood and buzzing nervously rather than launching an attack. Buff-tails and tree bumblebees are a little more feisty, and their nests are best left alone – on rare occasions I have even been chased by particularly aggressive workers. When really riled, they will bite and jab with their sting at the same time, and are not easily deterred. I hate to admit this, but on more than one occasion I have accidentally pulled the head off a bee when trying to remove one which had fastened its jaws on to my clothing. It is a common misconception that insects die after they sting. This applies only to honeybees, which have strongly barbed stings which lodge in the flesh of their victim. The bee cannot then escape, and so continues to pump venom until it is swatted – even then the sting and contracting venom sac often remain in place. On the other hand the stings of bumblebees – and for that matter wasps – are not barbed, so they do not get stuck in their victim, and the stinging bee does not die. Hence a bumblebee can, in theory, sting you over and over again until she has run out of venom, so it is fortunate that they generally choose not to do so.

Stings are obviously a very effective defence, but it’s even better not to have to use them. That is where colour comes in; as an advert to warn potential predators that this particular prey is armed and dangerous. Many insects which have stings (such as wasps) or are poisonous (such as cinnabar moth caterpillars) have yellow and black stripes, a common signal aimed at predators such as birds that hunt primarily by sight rather than smell. The idea is simple – if birds can’t tell which insects are harmful and which are not, they will just attack indiscriminately. By the time they discover that the insect they are trying to eat has a sting or tastes awful, the insect itself may well have been badly damaged. Far better, then, for both bird and insect if the insect broadcasts the fact that it is not good to eat.

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