Is the venom that bees and wasps carry produce inside the sting, or is the sting only a delivery system of the venom? Also, is it true that bees and wasps have different ph's of their venom, as in ones acidic and ones alkaline? (simply curious as i heard a person say you could technically neutralize one with the other, which i know is probably feasible but would be highly impractical)

I can understand the point of a sting if it doesn't kill the animal in the process of stinging something, however the bee dies after stinging something/thing.

The only reason for this that I can think of is for the benefit of other bees- if an animal gets stung once, they are likely to leave all other bees alone.

Also, does a bee know they are going to die if they sting something?

In summer months my heavily flowered vines are frequented by what must be hundreds of bees at a time.  If I pass by too closely one bee will suddenly stop its activity and fly close by my head at high speed, usually just once (if I continue moving away), then return to feeding/gathering.  The unusual thing is that it is always JUST ONE bee, not a few or even just two, always only one.  The question is this: how is it that out of hundreds of bees one and only one takes it upon himself to defend all the others by warning me off?  How is this bee "selected?"  And, once he has chosen/been "told" to perform this duty, how do all the others know not to follow suit?  Does the sound of his "buzz run" warn off the others?  Side question:  how does the bee know that my head is the best part to "buzz?"

I'm a keen amateur apiarist however the last few times I've visited my hives I've noticed a very disturbing trend in some of my livestock that I'm hoping someone here may be able to assist me with. I'd read somewhere that a low amperage current applied to a hive acts as a catalyst to increase honey production and also provides some uniqueness to the flavour. Being of open mind I decided to try this out and, for a time, I was harvesting more from my hives than I've ever done. After a while I saw that honey production was dropping back down to average levels and the quality of the honey was also suffering so I thought I'd test the boundaries of my newly implemented improvement and increased the amount of current I'd been applying. Again, honey production increased, however, every now and then I'd see what appeared to be seriously disorientated bees flying into my bedroom walls and combusting in a small shower of sparks. To add some context to these comments I should also mention that I keep my hives under my bed and have drilled small holes in my walls for the bees to exit and enter as they please. So my question is around how it's possible for an insect to store sufficient charge in its body that it self destructs on impact with a solid surface. I would have thought that this amount of electrical energy would have killed the insect long before any inherent capacitive qualities kicked in.

While working as a postman I saw a bee sitting on the outside step of a building. It was a large bee and as I looked it rose up in a spiral and directly under it a small stream of fluid traced the spiral pattern onto the doorstep. Since then I've been wondering if a bee can pee.

I wonder if anybody can help me with answers to a few insect questions. About six weeks ago my wife and I noticed flying insects repeatedly entering and leaving a hole in our slabbed footpath (see Photo one). This was next to were the old root system of a monkey puzzle tree used to be until I removed it 20 years ago. Both my wife and I were convinced that they were bees (see photo 2 & 3) but having rung the pest control were told that they could not be because they don’t nest in the ground. About 2 week ago we then noticed a new insect entering and leaving the hole at the same time as the first (see photo 4). This seems to resemble a hover fly but with orange antennae which now also swarms in some numbers around hole and, while obviously wary of the first insect, seems to enter the hole with relative impunity. My Questions are therefore – 1) Can anybody confirm the identity of the first insect? 2) Can anybody confirm the identity of the Second insect and what is it doing in the hole with insect 1? 3) If insect is a bee, do I need to be concerned for my children seeing as recently a beekeeper was stung to death not far from where we live in Leicester, UK?

I wonder if anybody can help me with answers to a few insect questions. About six weeks ago my wife and I noticed flying insects repeatedly entering and leaving a hole in our slabbed footpath (see Photo one). This was next to were the old root system of a monkey puzzle tree used to be until I removed it 20 years ago. Both my wife and I were convinced that they were bees (see photo 2 & 3) but having rung the pest control were told that they could not be because they don’t nest in the ground. About 2 week ago we then noticed a new insect entering and leaving the hole at the same time as the first (see photo 4). This seems to resemble a hover fly but with orange antennae which now also swarms in some numbers around hole and, while obviously wary of the first insect, seems to enter the hole with relative impunity. My Questions are therefore – 1) Can anybody confirm the identity of the first insect? 2) Can anybody confirm the identity of the Second insect and what is it doing in the hole with insect 1? 3) If insect is a bee, do I need to be concerned for my children seeing as recently a beekeeper was stung to death not far from where we live in Leicester, UK?