Rex Trulove
Sweat bees really are bees, though they often don’t look like most wasps and bees that people are acquainted with. They are found all over the world except Antarctica, though they are rare in Australia and southeast Asia. At times, they can be rather annoying.
The reason they are annoying is the trait which gives them their common name. They are attracted to and will land on a person’s skin, to gather the moisture and salts in sweat. Many people, not recognizing them as bees, attempt to swat them or shoo them away. Although they are quite docile, trying to smack them can result in a sting. The sting is generally less painful than that of most other bees, but it is also uncomfortable.
There are many species of sweat bees and there are over 1,000 species present in the United States alone. For this reason, there can be considerable variation between species, so it becomes difficult to generalize. For example, some sweat bees are solitary and others aren’t. Some dig their nests in the ground and others tunnel into wood. Some are black and others have a beautiful and brilliant metallic green coloration.
Like other bees, most sweat bees eat pollen and are frequently found in large numbers around flowers. They are very effective pollinators that are usually found anywhere that honeybees thrive, so they are a kind of bee that is quite useful for gardeners and people with orchards. In fact, in some areas of the western US, sweat bees are the main pollinators of several crops, including alfalfa.
Their importance is often not stressed enough, perhaps because they don’t produce quantities of honey like honeybees do. Unless a person is allergic to the toxins in a sweat bee’s sting, these bees should be left alone. Although some species will guard their nests, this kind of bee is unaggressive and they don’t swarm like many other bees and wasps do.
Most people have probably seen sweat bees, though they might not have recognized them as bees. Do you recall seeing sweat bees and if so, did you know that they were bees?
I seldom panic if it is just one bee or wasp. I might swat one with my hand if it is flying around my face. If I suddenly find myself next to a hive, though, I have been known to make a mad dash to put some distance between me and the bees/wasps, especially hornets. That has happened a few times.
Still, several years ago, there was a guy locally who was out working in his yard who got stung by a wasp. He didn’t think much of it since he knew he wasn’t allergic. He finished his chore, then went into his house and told his wife about the sting, still unconcerned. It hurt, but he wasn’t worried. An hour later, he was dead. He didn’t even see it coming.
Reactions can take various forms, too. My wife and I were out huckleberry picking one day. I was bent over, picking away, and kept hearing a loud buzzing. I kept picking. Eventually, I realized that the sound was getting louder. I looked up to find myself about three feet from a hornet nest. I ran, scattering berries everywhere, knowing that hornets are highly aggressive. I didn’t get stung. However, my wife, who was about 30 feet away, got stung on the elbow. We headed back into town and in the half hour that the trip took, her entire arm was swollen about double. She couldn’t bend her elbow or wrist and had to hold her arm straight out. I took her to the emergency room. The doctor, who later was discharged by the hospital for multiple cases of malpractice, told her that it was a “natural reaction”. That was *not* a natural reaction, of course, and it took about three days for the swelling to go down. The first day, I watched her closely for respiratory distress, but her reaction was severe swelling only.
I didn’t even see this Comment, thanks for pointing it out. Wow. Scary stuff for sure. Sounds like she was highly allergic.
Last year I found or I guess I should say the dogs found a…. what do they call them now.. A hot bee hive? A mixture of the European and Killer bees. I ran a whole mile before they slacked off, and I only got about 100 from the nest. Geeze, before I even heard them they were swarming. I looked up and this huge ball was forming over the tree. Thinking about it later I did hear the low pitched hum, and it didn’t register what I was hearing. I didn’t get stung..
We are fortunate here in Montana. We have no killer bees. We do have wild honey bees and a couple of different kinds of bumblebees, plus perhaps a dozen kinds of wasps. We have one species of paper wasps that are really tiny and make a regular cone-shaped nest that is smaller than a fist. That is the only wasp my daughter is allergic to. I agree with you about my wife’s reaction to the hornet sting and firmly believe that she is allergic to bald-faced hornets.
My brother is deathly allergic to yellow jackets and must carry a bee sting kit with him at all times. He didn’t use to be allergic to them. Both he and I have been stung numerous times by yellow jackets. He also retired from the US Forest Service after 36 years, most of it involving him out in the woods where there are lots of yellow jackets. The last time he was stung was a few years before he retired. He knew that he’d developed an allergy and had a bee sting kit, but was a mile from his truck, where the kit was. He almost didn’t make it and probably wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for coworkers who happened up the road very shortly after he collapsed while reaching for the truck. They knew about his allergy and was able to get the kit and give him a shot. That was when he started carrying a kit in his shirt pocket. He isn’t allergic to any other kind of bee or wasp.
Probably the biggest pollinator around here, though, is the red-tailed bumblebee. They are large and look like any other bumblebee except that their abdomens are reddish or orange. They are extremely docile, however. I don’t know anyone who has been stung by one. We usually end up with one or two in our tent when we go camping and I gently remove them from the tent and turn them loose. A person would almost need to work at getting them angry, in order to get stung, and I don’t know of anyone in their right mind who would want to try to make them angry. lol
This made me laugh Rex. The reason why is my daughter in law is afraid of bees. She is always the one that seems to get stung when we go out hiking. One day this beautiful little sweat bee landed on her, and yes, of course stung her. She didn’t know they could sting either.
This is just a guess, but when humans are scared, they release pheromones that are very similar to the ones released when they are aggressive (both being part of the fight or flight response). It is very possible that her fear is what is causing the stinging. Bees and wasps don’t really reason, they act instinctively. However, it would be a natural instinctive reaction to aggression to sting.
You’ve reminded me of a little story that I should relate and post, though, about wasps, stinging, and panic.
I have heard that before. I don’t seem to panic unless they land on me. I might put out a tiny bit of pheromones when I see a red wasp. Man those hurt.
I meant that long reply as a reply to your comment, not as a separate comment. lol