CleanupBot II: Removed empty portal template using script

2023-08-14T19:36:08Z

Removed empty portal template using script

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:06, 15 August 2023
Line 34:		Line 34:

	==See also==		==See also==
	~~{{Portal\|Arthropods}}~~
	* [[Bee sting]]		* [[Bee sting]]
	* [[Cnidocyte]]		* [[Cnidocyte]]

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

2022-06-29T05:35:24Z

robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:05, 29 June 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{short description\|Sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom}}		{{short description\|Sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom}}
	{{~~Other uses~~}}		{{about\|the organ\|the missile\|FIM-92 Stinger\|\|Stinger (disambiguation)}}
	{{refimprove\|date=December 2016}}		{{refimprove\|date=December 2016}}
	[[File:Waspstinger1658-2.jpg\|right\|thumb\|[[Wasp]] stinger, with droplet of [[venom (poison)\|venom]]]]		[[File:Waspstinger1658-2.jpg\|right\|thumb\|[[Wasp]] stinger, with droplet of [[venom (poison)\|venom]]]]
Line 46:		Line 46:
	==References==		==References==
	{{reflist\|30em}}		{{reflist\|30em}}

			==External links==
			*{{Commons category-inline\|Stingers}}

	[[Category:Animal anatomy]]		[[Category:Animal anatomy]]

WikiDwarf: Created page with "{{short description|Sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom}} {{Other uses}} {{refimprove|date=December 2016}} [[Wasp stinger, with droplet of venom]] A '''stinger''' (or '''sting''') is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal...."

2022-05-20T10:52:13Z

Created page with "{{short description|Sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom}} {{Other uses}} {{refimprove|date=December 2016}} right|thumb|[[Wasp stinger, with droplet of venom]] A '''stinger''' (or '''sting''') is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal...."

New page

{{short description|Sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom}}
{{Other uses}}
{{refimprove|date=December 2016}}
[[File:Waspstinger1658-2.jpg|right|thumb|[[Wasp]] stinger, with droplet of [[venom (poison)|venom]]]]

A '''stinger''' (or '''sting''') is a sharp [[Organ (anatomy)|organ]] found in various [[animal]]s (typically [[insect]]s and other [[arthropod]]s) capable of injecting [[venom]], usually by piercing the [[epidermis]] of another animal.

An [[insect]] sting is complicated by its introduction of [[venom]], although not all stings are venomous. Bites, which can introduce [[saliva]] as well as additional pathogens and diseases, are often confused with stings. Specific components of venom are believed to give rise to an [[Allergy|allergic reaction]], which in turn produces skin lesions that may vary from a small itching weal, or slightly elevated area of the skin, to large areas of inflamed skin covered by [[Vesicle (dermatology)|vesicles]] and crusted [[lesions]].

Stinging insects produce a painful swelling of the skin, the severity of the lesion varying according to the location of the sting, the identity of the insect and the sensitivity of the subject. Many species of [[bee]]s and [[wasp]]s have two poison glands, one gland secreting a [[toxin]] in which [[formic acid]] is one recognized constituent, and the other secreting an [[alkaline]] [[neurotoxin]]; acting independently, each toxin is rather mild, but when they combine through the sting, the combination has strong irritating properties. In a small number of cases, the second occasion of a bee or wasp sting causes a severe allergic reaction known as [[anaphylaxis]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Riches|first1=KJ|last2=Gillis|first2=D |last3=James|first3=RA |date=2002|title=An autopsy approach to bee sting-related deaths|journal=Pathology|volume=34|issue=3|pages=257–62|doi=10.1080/00313020220131327|pmid=12109787|s2cid=20615755}}</ref>

Hornets, some [[ant]]s, [[centipede]]s, and [[scorpion]]s also sting.

A few insects leave their stingers in the wounds, but this is overstated. For example, of the 20,000 species of bees worldwide, only the half-dozen species of honeybees (''[[Honey bee|Apis]]'') are reported to have a barbed stinger that cannot be withdrawn; of wasps, nearly all are reported to have smooth stingers with the exception of two species, ''[[Polybia rejecta]]'' and ''[[Synoeca surinama]]''.

==Arthropods==
[[File:Vespula vulgaris SEM Sting 01.jpg|right|thumb|[[Yellowjacket]] sting in its sheath in the [[scanning electron microscope]]]]
Among [[arthropod]]s, a sting or stinger is a sharp organ, often connected with a venom gland and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing, as with the caudal sting of a [[scorpion]]. Stings are usually located at the rear of the animal. Animals with stings include bees, wasps (including [[hornet]]s) and [[scorpion]]s,<ref name="Eisner2005">{{cite book |author1=Thomas Eisner |author2=Maria Eisner |author3=Melody Siegler |year=2005 |title=Secret Weapons: Defences of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and other Many-legged Creatures |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-01882-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/secretweaponsdef00eisn }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oxford Dictionaries |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/stinger |website=oxforddictionaries.com |access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref> as well as a single beetle species (''[[Onychocerus albitarsis]]'') that can deliver a venomous sting from its antennae, whose terminal segments have evolved to resemble a scorpion's tail.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Berkov|first1=Amy|last2=Rodríguez|first2=Nelson|last3=Centeno|first3=Pedro|title=Convergent evolution in the antennae of a cerambycid beetle, ''Onychocerus albitarsis'', and the sting of a scorpion|journal=Naturwissenschaften|date=15 Nov 2007|volume=95|issue=3|pages=257–61|doi=10.1007/s00114-007-0316-1|pmid=18004534|s2cid=30226487}}</ref>

[[File:ScorpionBarb.jpg|thumb|left| [[Scorpion]] stinger]]

In all stinging [[Hymenoptera]] the sting is a modified [[ovipositor]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shing |first1=H. |last2=Erickson |first2=E. H. |title=Some ultrastructure of the honeybee (''Apis mellifera'' L.) sting |journal=Apidologie |date=1982 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=203–213 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00890568/document |doi=10.1051/apido:19820301|doi-access=free }}</ref> Unlike most other stings, [[honey bee]] workers' stings are strongly barbed and lodge in the flesh of [[mammal]]s upon use, tearing free from the honey bee's body, killing the bee within minutes.<ref name="Eisner2005"/> The sting has its own [[ganglion]], and it continues to saw into the target's flesh and release venom for several minutes. This trait is of obvious disadvantage to the individual but protects the hive from attacks by large animals; aside from the effects of the venom, the remnant also marks the stung animal with honey bee alarm pheromone. The barbs of a honey bee's attack are only suicidal if the skin is elastic, as is characteristic of vertebrates such as birds and mammals; honey bees can sting other insects repeatedly without dying.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-05-30 |title=How Bees Work |url=https://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/bee.htm |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en}}</ref>

The sting of nearly all other bees and other sting-bearing organisms is not barbed and can be used to sting repeatedly. The description of barbed or unbarbed is not precise: there are barbs on the stings of [[yellowjacket]] wasps and the [[Mexican honey wasp]], but the barbs are so small that the wasp can sometimes withdraw its sting apparatus from victim's skin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Greene |first1=Albert |last2=Breisch |first2=Nancy |last3=Golden |first3=David |last4=Kelly |first4=Denise |last5=Douglass |first5=Larry |title=Sting Embedment and Avulsion in Yellowjackets (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): a Functional Equivalent to Autotomy |url=https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/58/1/50/1754582 |website=Oxford Academic |publisher=Entomological Society of America |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>

The stings of some wasps, such as those of the ''[[Polistes versicolor]]'', contain relatively large amounts of [[5-hydroxytryptamine]] (5-HT) in its venoms. The 5-HT in these venoms has been found to play at least two roles: one as a pain-producing agent and the other in the distribution and penetration of the paralyzing components to vulnerable sites in the offender. This helps in the rapid immobilization of the animal or of the body parts receiving the venom.<ref>Welsh, John H., and Carolyn S. Batty. "5-Hydroxytryptamine Content of Some Arthropod Venoms and Venom-containing Parts." Toxic on 1.4 (1963): 165-70. Web.</ref>

Spiders only bite, although some tarantulas have barbed bristles called [[urticating hairs]]. Certain caterpillars also have urticating hairs.

==Other animals==
Organs that perform similar functions in non-arthropods are often referred to as "stings". These organs include the modified [[dermal denticle]] of the [[stingray]], the [[Platypus venom|venomous spurs]] on the hind legs of the male [[platypus]], and the [[cnidocyte]] [[tentacle]]s of the [[jellyfish]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/sting#sting__4|title=sting: definition of sting in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)|work=oxforddictionaries.com}}</ref>

The term ''sting'' was historically often used for the [[fang]] of a [[snake]],<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. "Sting ... Applied also to the fang or venom-tooth (and erroneously to the forked tongue) of a poisonous serpent."</ref> although this usage is uncommon today. Snakes are said, correctly, to [[snake-bite|bite]], not sting.

==See also==
{{Portal|Arthropods}}
* [[Bee sting]]
* [[Cnidocyte]]
* [[Chelicerae]]
* [[Forcipules]]
* [[Insect bite]]
* [[Schmidt Sting Pain Index]]
* [[Starr sting pain scale]]
* [[Stinging plant]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Animal anatomy]]

Stinger - Revision history

CleanupBot II: Removed empty portal template using script

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)