What is it about?
In this work we were able to capture some of the most detailed video of the stinger in action. We captured the internal pumping mechanisms by filming with high-speed cameras and strong lighting. We then looked at the video, frame-by-frame to analyse how the pumping mechanism works. We then combined our footage with 3D scans of the stinger. This allowed us to firstly get a better understanding of the bee stinger, and secondly replicate its pumping structures in a 3D printed model.
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Photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Although entomologists have known that bees have special pumping structures for over a century this is the first time we have been able to observe the pumping stinger in this level of detail. Additionally, the stinger pumps liquid in a very unusual way. Having two deformable pumping pistons within a single chamber is just not something we commonly observe, either in nature or in man-made devices. We think that the stinger's approach to pumping liquid could be of interest for the design of manmade pumps such as medical devices, micro-pumps or any systems that require a continuous flow of liquid.
Perspectives
Understanding the honey bee stinger was a complex process. It was a true multidisciplinary effort which required a host of techniques to start to understand what was going on in this naturally occurring micro-pump. The more we looked into it the more intricacies and nuance we uncovered. This project has really highlighted for me the importance of careful and detailed observation and documentation of the natural world.
Fiorella Ramirez Esquivel
Macquarie University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The honey bee stinger: An unusual pump with collapsible double pistons, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2603916123.
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