Any experts on Vespula out there?
I recently had an encounter with Vespula maculifrons and received several stings and bites but surprisingly, they were relatively painless. However, the sources I’ve read about the species indicate that the stings are painful.
They became very aggressive after I accidentally disturbed their subterranean nest, but the stings were merely noticeable, not painful. They felt like a bite from a large mosquito or a mandible pinch from a small insect like a non-venomous ant or slightly more painful than a ladybug pinch. Less painful than a black fly, and much less painful than a honey bee.
So, are my sources incorrect or do I just have some weird blood-chem that makes the venom less painful for me?
@Pat What an interesting experience! The venom from Vespula contains multiple components that induce pain (using different mechanisms). I am so sorry to say that it seems more probable that they weren’t injecting venom than that you are immune to these different mechanisms. It’s not unusual for a single insect to inject no/little venom but interesting that multiple individuals were not injecting much venom when defending a colony. If you do get stung again I’d love to hear how it goes!
Thank you for the info...
They were biting and stinging, I watched some of them in action. They were very aggressive -- there must have been a lot of pheromone on me because about a dozen of them followed me into the house and few even followed me from room to room.
Yes, I've been reading about the different venom components, likely due to evolutionary pressure to target a wide variety of animals that could possibly cause them harm.
I spoke to someone else who lives near here who said that they have also been stung by yellow jackets without much pain, so I wonder if we have some kind of mutated line breeding around here that is unable to inject venom properly.
>"If you do get stung again I’d love to hear how it goes!"
I'm a lot more cautious now, so I doubt if that's going to happen anytime soon. :smile:
