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Sting tip animation

honey bee sting tip

Sting tip of honey bee worker seen from below. Two lancets of the sting can move along the stylet. When barbs of one lancet prevent the sting from going out, the other lancet gets deeper into the victims body. (scale bar = 0.1 mm)

The two rows of barbs are distributed along curved lines, therefore, the sting rotates clockwise about 8 degrees during penetration of victim's skin Barbs Facilitate the Helical Penetration of Honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica) Stingers,
PloS one
, Volume 9, Number 8, p.e103823, (2014)
[1].