Researchers at Australia's Macquarie University have uncovered for the first time how honeybee…

Researchers at Australia's Macquarie University have uncovered for the first time how honeybee stingers penetrate deeply into skin and continuously inject venom. Published on the 12th in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study reveals that the Western honeybee's stinger operates as a 'double piston' mechanism.

The team used high-speed cameras capturing hundreds of frames per second to film the stinger's action. They found two specialized valves inside the stinger that move alternately, pushing the barbed stinger deeper into the skin while continuously pumping venom from the venom sac. Postdoctoral researcher Fiorella Ramirez Esquivel explained that each piston contracts as it changes direction, allowing fluid flow.