It has been suggested that sting (biology) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Wasp stinger, with droplet of venom

A stinger is an organ or body part found in various animals that usually delivers some kind of venom. It is typically located at the rear of the animal, near the tail (if any). Animals with stingers include bees, wasps, hornets, and scorpions - although the scorpion's stinger is not homologous to that of the other three, but is rather an example of convergent evolution. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Venom. ... Image File history File links wasp stinger closeup, venom droplet Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 05:05, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC) This image is now on commons at commons:Image:Waspstinger1658-2. ... Image File history File links wasp stinger closeup, venom droplet Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 05:05, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC) This image is now on commons at commons:Image:Waspstinger1658-2. ... WASP (an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) is a term, sometimes derogatory, that denotes either an ethnic group, or the culture, customs, and heritage of the American elite establishment. ... It has been suggested that Snake poison be merged into this article or section. ... In biology, an organ (Latin: organum, instrument, tool) is a group of tissues, which perform a specific function or group of functions. ... Binomial name Aptenodytes forsteri Gray, 1844 For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Snake poison be merged into this article or section. ... The word tail in the English language has a number of meanings: Tail (anatomy) is used to describe the rear end of an animals body, especially when it forms a distinct, flexible appendage to the trunk; Tail can describe anything like an animals tail in form or position... Families Andrenidae Apidae Colletidae Halictidae Heterogynaidae Megachilidae Melittidae Oxaeidae Stenotritidae Bee collecting pollen Bees (Apoidea superfamily) are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. ... WASP (an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) is a term, sometimes derogatory, that denotes either an ethnic group, or the culture, customs, and heritage of the American elite establishment. ... Hornets are large eusocial wasps. ... Superfamilies Pseudochactoidea Buthoidea Chaeriloidea Chactoidea Iuroidea Scorpionoidea See the classification sectionfor families. ... Two or more structures are said to be homologous if they are alike because of shared ancestry. ... In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution describes the process whereby organisms not closely related independently acquire similar characteristics while evolving in separate and sometimes varying ecosystems. ...

In honeybees, the stinger (a modified ovipositor) is barbed, and lodges in the flesh of the victim upon use and tears free from the honeybee's body, leading to the honeybee's death within minutes. The question of how such a trait could have evolved, when it is of such an obvious disadvantage to the individual, is resolved when one realizes that the main function of the stinger is not defense against mammals, but rather inter-bee combat: a barbed stinger can penetrate the chitinous plates of another bee's exoskeleton, and retract safely. Another theory is that since all worker bees are sterile and share the queen's genes,it is in the interest of the hive for the bee to kill herself to protect the fertile queen(who shares her genes and can reproduce).The stinger of the wasp is not barbed, and so can sting mammals repeatedly. Species A. mellifera— western honeybee A. cerana— eastern honeybee Honeybees are a subset of bees which fall into the Order Hymenoptera and Suborder Apocrita. ... The ovipositor is an organ used by some of the arthropods for oviposition, i. ... The word barb can have many meanings: Look up barb in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Structure of chitin molecule In biology, chitin (pronounced keye-tin) is one of the main components in the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of insects and other arthropods, and in some other animals. ... An exoskeleton, in contrast to an endoskeleton, is an external anatomical feature that supports and protects an animals body. ...

For creatures such as jellyfish, stinger can refer to the tentacles that carry cnidocytes to capture and paralyze prey. Orders Stauromedusae Coronatae Semaeostomeae Rhizostomae Jellyfish are marine invertebrates belonging to the Scyphozoa class, and in turn the phylum Cnidaria. ... Cnidocytes, also known as cnidoblasts or nematocytes, are prey-capture and defensive cells unique to and present in all animals of the phylum Cnidaria. ...