The stinger of a western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a weapon of last resort, designed to embed itself and deposit venom in flesh — most often resulting in the worker bee’s death.

Researchers used cameras capturing hundreds of frames per second and strong lighting to film the stinger in action. Fiorella Ramirez Esquivel, lead author and postdoctoral researcher with Macquarie University, and her team used these high‑speed cameras to highlight the translucent venom sac and stinger.

Because bee stings happen in the blink of an eye, the experiments used live honey bees, removing their stinger and killing them immediately after. The stinger remains active for only about two minutes once separated from the bee’s body, so Ramirez Esquivel had to work quickly.

At 100 frames per second, you can see two distinct pieces in the middle chamber between the long needle and the giant venom sac. These are valves that move past each other in a unique dance, described as a “double piston design.”

The two valves drive the barbed stinger deeper while continuously pumping venom from the sac into the flesh. As one valve pushes forward, the other collapses, allowing fluid to flow around it, creating a continuous motion similar to two pistons working together.

The researchers recreated the valve motion with 3D‑printed models, confirming that the system can keep venom flowing while the stinger advances – unlike a simple syringe plunger that stops after one push.

Juliana Rangel, professor of apiculture at Texas A&M University, said the videos are fascinating because they show how venom continues to be pumped for so long after the stinging apparatus is released, something earlier microscope images could not reveal.

The study also found that the detached stinger can keep twitching and making tiny movements for up to 15 minutes.

Understanding this double‑valve mechanism could eventually inspire medical devices that need a steady fluid flow, although such applications are still speculative.