Refugees from Picture threads

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

Oh dear. Sounds like a friend of mine who was around that age when he decided to poke a paper wasp nest. It was high up, and he used a long stick. A single wasp spiraled down and stung him on his bare chest. He said he could hardly breath, it hurt so much. He didn't tell, because he said, "I would have got a whippin' from Mom," for being where he was in the first place.

Hmm. Some people are deathly allergic to bee and wasp stings, and they really can't breathe due to anaphylactic shock. They are obliged to carry epipens in case they get stung.

I've never had the displeasure of being stung by a paper wasp -- just a few bee stings, and a number of yellowjacket stings -- but I hear paper wasp stings can be quite painful.

There is genus of wasps whose wingless females resemble large fuzzy ants, so are known as "velvet ants." One orange-and-black species, Dasymutilla occidentalis, is known as the "cow killer" because its sting is said to be so painful it would kill a cow (or sometimes, a mule).

[richs]

Got stung by four of these hornets(?) on my chest and abdomen while trimming a bush last summer in New York. Hurt like hell.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by richs

Got stung by four of these hornets(?) on my chest and abdomen while trimming a bush last summer in New York. Hurt like hell.

Yup. Looks like the Bald-faced Hornet, Dolichovespula maculata

[Xyzzy]

The other day we had a bee/wasp fly down our jacket while riding our motorcycle on the highway. It stung us several times as we quickly pulled over. We pulled off our helmet, jacket and shirt and flung everything to the side. It must have looked hilarious to see a fat old guy with no shirt sitting on a motorcycle!

It reminds us of this:

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

The other day we had a bee/wasp fly down our jacket while riding our motorcycle on the highway. It stung us several times as we quickly pulled over. We pulled off our helmet, jacket and shirt and flung everything to the side. It must have looked hilarious to see a fat old guy with no shirt sitting on a motorcycle!
<snip>

Oof! I had a similar experience while riding my bicycle one fine fall day, many long years ago.

Yellowjackets, which have hair-trigger stinging instincts under the best of circumstances, seem to become especially bad-tempered in fall. On this occasion, one of them flew into my neck, then tumbled down the inside of my sweatshirt and stung me. Repeatedly.

I pulled over and got on my feet. I had no trouble locating it, as it was in the process of stinging me for about the sixth time. I put my thumb and finger outside my sweatshirt on either side of it and savagely crushed it. I was then able to roll up my sweatshirt, brush the fragments out, and roll my sweatshirt back down. I had a bunch of hard little red welts that burned like fire.

BTW honeybee workers can only sting once. Their stingers have barbs. In stinging, they are ending their own lives.

[kladner]

I was driving on a warm day in Houston with the windows open. I did not notice that a yellow jacket had landed on the console and rested my arm there. It must have stung me more than once. There were spots visible at first. My arm swelled from the elbow to the wrist and took days to subside. A day or so after it was one massive itch.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

It reminds us of this:

There are better videos out there...