[LEPS-L:7927] Re: Nice account: An encounter with honeybees

[Chris J. Durden]

The red species is different and much more aggressive, as is the black.
  I would describe the -
*Polistes* sting as blunt, spikey and bruising
*Polybia* sting as sharp, intense spikey and bruising
*Vespula* sting as sharp, firey and hot                        
*Pepsis* sting as barbed needle-like, hot and brief

I have not yet let either *Dolichovespula* or *Vespa* sting me. I admire
the prowess of *D. maculata*. I once sat in a canoe among alders, and
watched *D. maculata* pick of the large tabanids in mid air, audibly
crunching them and feasting on the wing in the style of a dragonfly.
..........Chris Durden

At 03:54  19/11/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Polistes are sweet little wasps, and do not sting unless you bang into
>their nest. Unfortunately they festoon hurricane shutters with their
>little paper confections, and my beloved husband got nailed during the
>exciting hurricane season ... '64 or so? It sensitized him, and for
>years we had to carry a bee sting kit. After a while, his immune system
>forgot all about it. 
>
>You can poke their nest down with a stick, and they don't figure it out.
>Mellow? Dumb? Both? 
>These are small little colonies of half a dozen wasps, and I don't
>imagine that causing trouble would be a useful lifestyle.  
>Anne Kilmer
>south florida
> 


 
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