Well, that is a very good question. As you know, a bit or a sting hurts. But what is the difference?

Most people might say that insect sting and animals bite or maybe any insect or animal with teeth bites.

Well, that is partly true. Animals with teeth do bite. But when it comes to insects it’s a little different.

There is a big difference between the insects that bite and the ones that sting. It can be a little confusing for us as we use «picar» in Spanish for both, sting and bite. Wasps «pican», mosquitos «pican» and jellyfish «pican». 

In English insects can bite and sting, it depends on the type of insect and what it can do. Let’s take a look at how they differ. So a venomous insect has the ability to sting you with its venom and can make you feel unwell or suffer an alergic reaction. So for example, wasps, bees and fire ants sting. What about those insects that bite? Let’s take a look at those. A non venomous insect can bite you, and it does that to  feed on your blood. These include mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. So if it’s non venomous then it is a bite and if it’s venomous it’s a sting. There is an exception and that is with spiders, spiders bite as they have fangs, which are like pointy teeth just like vampires. 

This article would not be complete if I did not mention snakes, snakes are not insects as you know but you might be thinking that the same information applies to them, however it does not. Some snakes are venomous and some are not, but we say snakes bite, not matter if they are venomous or not.