Bee acids. Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax and apitoxin (Bee venom). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported by evidence-based medicine. The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In "Lasioglossum leucozonium", the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-heptacosane, and 22-docosanolide. However, the secretions of these glands could also be used for
Evolution of snake venom eggs, meaning that the snake had no use for its venom. This has led biologists to suggest that if venom is not used by a species, it is rapidly lost. Venom atrophication has also occurred following the evolution of constriction as a method of prey capture that does not require venom. Constriction is hypothesized to have evolved independently in several lineages. North American ‘rat snakes’ such as the Corn snake "Pantherophis guttatus" use constriction to trap and kill their rodent prey, and do not possess functional venom. A similar process has occurred in the African colubrid lineage Lamprophiidae, such as