Insect bites and stings Insect bites and stings Insect bites and stings occur when an insect is agitated and seeks to defend itself through its natural defense mechanisms, or when an insect seeks to feed off the bitten person. Some insects inject formic acid, which can cause an immediate skin reaction often resulting in redness and swelling in the injured area. Stings from fire ants, bees, wasps and hornets are usually painful, and may stimulate a dangerous allergic reaction called anaphylaxis for at-risk patients, and some wasps can also have a powerful bite along with a sting. Bites from mosquitoes and fleas are more
Insect meaning "with a notched or divided body", or literally "cut into", from the neuter singular perfect passive participle of , "to cut into, to cut up", from "in"- "into" and "secare" "to cut"; because insects appear "cut into" three sections. A calque of Greek ['], "cut into sections", Pliny the Elder introduced the Latin designation as a loan-translation of the Greek word ("éntomos") or "insect" (as in entomology), which was Aristotle's term for this class of life, also in reference to their "notched" bodies. "Insect" first appears documented in English in 1601 in Holland's translation of Pliny. Translations of Aristotle's