Bee stingers keep pumping venom after detachment, study finds

A honeybee’s detached stinger continues pumping venom into its victim, driven by a self-contained mechanism, according to research reported by ERR.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University used high-speed cameras to study how insects sting and release venom. They inserted bee stingers into a transparent material designed to resemble human tissue.

The stinging apparatus left behind contains muscles, a venom sac and its own nerve ganglion, the researchers found. It continues to move rhythmically without the bee, with contractions gradually fading as its energy runs out.

The stinger uses an unusual mechanism with flexible double pistons to move venom. The design lets it penetrate deeper into tissue while valves pump venom continuously. The researchers said the compact, autonomous system could inspire medical devices, including minimally invasive micropumps that deliver medicine to a precise location in the body. Their findings were published in PNAS.