How to tell a hornet from a honeybee, and how to reduce swelling after a hornet sting?
The hornet, scientific name "wasp", also called "horse bee" or "yellow wasp". It has a large body and long body with strong toxicity, and is a holometabolous animal, going through four stages in its life: egg, larva, pupa, adult, and the body appearance differs at each stage. The female wasp has a long, thick stinger at the end of its tail connected to a venom gland; after stinging a person it injects the venom into the skin, but the stinger does not remain in the skin. The honeybees we commonly see are yellow-brown or dark brown, with dense hairs. The head and thorax are almost the same width. The antennae are elbowed, the compound eyes are oval and hairy, the mouthparts are chewing-lapping, and the hind legs are pollen-carrying legs.How to tell a hornet from a honeybee? How to reduce swelling after a hornet sting?
1. How to tell a hornet from a honeybee?
1. Distinguish by the nest
Hornet nests are generally in trees, though a few are underground. A nest in a tree is an irregular sphere, with a diameter ranging from just over ten cm to several tens of cm. An underground nest is like an inverted pagoda, with anywhere from a few layers to more than ten layers. Moreover, the main component of a hornet nest is wood debris, much like paper. Most honeybees build their nests underground; their nests are disc-shaped and perpendicular to the ground, with many hexagonal small cells on them, and their main component is beeswax.
2. Distinguish by eating habits
The eating habits of hornets and honeybees are also very different. Honeybees are phytophagous insects that feed on pollen; they are vegetarian, and in the process of collecting pollen they play a role in pollinating flowers. Hornets have complex feeding habits: in addition to sucking nectar, the adults are also predatory, and caterpillars and small green worms in trees are all targets for them. Since the objects hornets prey on are all pests, in this respect, like honeybees, they are both beneficial insects.
3. Distinguish by toxicity
Hornets fall into two kinds, toxic and non-toxic; the toxic ones are the females. When stung by a hornet, the wound is usually not large, but if not treated promptly, an allergic reaction may occur, and in severe cases it can be life-threatening. The treatment for a hornet sting and a honeybee sting is different.
Honeybee venom is acidic, so soapy water and the like can be applied, while hornet venom is weakly alkaline, so rice vinegar should be applied to the wound; the acid and alkali neutralize each other, weakening the toxicity.
4. Distinguish by individual appearance
Honeybees are smaller in size and look rather plump. At the same time they often travel among flowers collecting nectar.
Hornets are larger in size, with slender bodies, dark red, and do not collect nectar.
2. How to reduce swelling after a hornet sting?
After a bee sting, in mild cases the injured area shows red patches, papules or hives with a bruise-like dot in the center, with a burning sensation and stinging pain. If there are no symptoms 20 minutes after the sting, you can relax.
In severe cases, the injured area becomes flushed, swollen, and forms blisters, with severe local pain or itching, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, restlessness, spasms, and coma.
People with a specific constitution who are allergic to bee venom may rapidly develop swelling of the face and eyelids, hives, laryngeal edema, abdominal pain and diarrhea, difficulty breathing, a drop in blood pressure, unclear consciousness and other anaphylactic shock phenomena, and ultimately die from respiratory and circulatory failure.
How can swelling be reduced quickly? Do not be nervous; stay calm. If a stinger has entered the skin, first pull out the stinger. Choose soapy water, 3% ammonia water, 5-10% sodium bicarbonate water, salt water, or sugar water to wash and apply to the wound. Apply fresh human milk to the injured area several times a day. Apply Yulu powder or mashed chrysanthemum leaves as a compress. Choose fresh dandelion, Viola philippica, Paris polyphylla, or Lobelia chinensis, etc., wash and mash them, and apply them externally around the wound; the effect is good. It is recommended to seek medical treatment as soon as possible and not to be careless.