Digital Data in Biodiversity Research Conference

Many of us will have had the unpleasant experience of being stung by a bee. What we may not realise in that instant is the remarkable feat of evolution that the bee stinger constitutes. When a bee stings the stinger comes away from the bee body and continues to sting autonomously. Its piercing parts move in a reciprocating motion, propagating the stinger deeper into tissue while simultaneously pumping venom by moving a set of two collapsible pistons. We set out to understand the kinematics and fluid flow patterns of this unusual micropump. We started by studying the 3D morphology of the stinger using microCT. This allowed us to create upscaled 3D printed models to replicate stinger pumping behaviours using measurements obtained from high-speed videography analysis. The stinger is challenging to observe and difficult to manipulate. The combination of microCT and 3D printing brings this system into the realm of tractable study. Using the same research framework we are starting to examine other stingers/ovipositors within the Hymenoptera. We are working in collaboration with ANIC and the Australian Synchrotron to image a large range of specimens specialised in piercing/sawing into different kinds of substrates.