22 May 2009

Sting meme

I'm not usually one for passing around cheesy blog memes, but I really liked this one - Things That Have Stung Me. As a lover and researcher of bees, I felt this was right up my alley. So here are the rules:
List all the things that have stung you. Bites don’t count.
Pass the meme to 3 or more other bloggers you suspect have also been well-zinged.

Bees:
Apis mellifera (honeybees) - once on my foot as a kid, once on my neck as a too-curious undergrad who got a little too close to a hive. Itchy, fair amount of swelling.

Lasioglossum sp. (sweat bees) - accidentally closed my hand while this little bee was lapping up sweat from between my fingers. Minimal swelling, a little itchy.

Halictus sp. (also sweat bees) - same as above.

Nomia melanderi (alkali bees) - when walking around in nesting aggregations where we estimated there were hundreds of thousands of these bees, occasionally one will fly up your shorts or between your shirt sleeve and arm. These stings puffed up a fair amount, and itched A LOT 2-3 days post-sting. Got probably 8 stings in two days.

Osmia sp. (mason bees) - surveying bee communities, I caught three bees in my net but only saw two. This was the third, and when trapped between my a vial and my hand, it took the reasonable action of stinging me. Sting site puffed up fast, but only itched for a day.

Wasps:
something unknown - once stung my collarbone in grade school, once stung me in the armpit my first day of bee surveys. If you can avoid it, don't ever get stung in the armpit. It swells up like a $%#*@& and leaves you with a puffy, floppy under arm swollen nearly past your elbow for about three days. Miserable.

Ants:
again, ID unknown - somewhere in the North Dakota badlands I stood on an ant nest, getting a fair amount of angry ants up my pants. I proceeded to scream, throw my net, quickly drop my pants, and swat furiously until the stinging/burning sensation was gone.

Now, here are people I would like to know about:
FunEllen - a fellow bee researcher.
Lindsey - did her time in bee field work.
Olivia - has probably caught thousands more bees than I have, and can ID them all to species.

Let's see those sting stories, ladies!

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