A western honey bee’s stinger is a last-resort weapon designed to embed itself and inject venom, often leading to the bee’s demise. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is shedding light on the effectiveness of this defense mechanism.
Lead author Fiorella Ramirez Esquivel, a postdoctoral researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, highlighted the significance of capturing the bees’ actions on film, made possible by modern high-speed cameras. The experiments involved using cameras capable of capturing hundreds of frames per second due to the rapid nature of bee stings.
The study revealed a double-piston design in the bee’s stinger, where two specialized valves work simultaneously to drive the stinger deeper and continuously pump venom from the sac into the target. This intricate mechanism, likened to a car engine’s pistons moving past each other, was recreated using 3D printing for better visualization.
The research also explored the social nature of western honey bees, whose stinging behavior serves to protect the larger colony. Unlike other bees, the barbed stingers of worker honey bees aid in remaining embedded in the target, allowing for the recruitment of other bees through pheromones to join in defense.
The study’s findings may have potential medical applications, as the continuous flow of venom from the bee’s stinger, facilitated by the double-piston design, presents a unique mechanism worth further exploration. Additionally, the research opens up questions about other honey-producing bee species and their lack of stingers, prompting curiosity about the diverse strategies among bee populations.