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?
Thank you for that link. That's a diferent species, but I think the mechinism may be the same (an adjuvant degrandulating the mast cells).
I'm finding other studies by following the cites in that study you cited.
BTW, that particular experiment seems especially sadistic, injecting wasp venom into the bellies of mice until they die from the pain and inflamation. Especially considering that 1) the mouse model probably doesn't translate well to humans because the response is an immunoglobulin-specfic response, which itself varies between individual humans; 2) it could have been done in vitro.
I didn't realize that in the 21st century they were still doing those horrible things.
