# Entomologist Dopers: A Hymenoptera Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomologist-dopers-a-hymenoptera-question/559725>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 6, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomologist-dopers-a-hymenoptera-question/559725 "2010-11-06T19:10:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomologist-dopers-a-hymenoptera-question/559725/1 "2010-11-06T19:10:53Z")

</div>

Okay, the stinger of wasps, bees and some ants is a modified ovipositor. Does it still act as an ovipositor in the queens of bees and ants and in wasps (since wasps don’t actually have a large sterile class like bees and ants do)? If not, how do queen bees and ants and female wasps lay eggs?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomologist-dopers-a-hymenoptera-question/559725/2 "2010-11-07T05:49:30Z")

</div>

It does in honeybees; I don’t know about the others but I assume it must.