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. 2019 Sep 6;10:2090. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.02090

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Copyright © 2019 Pucca, Cerni, Oliveira, Jenkins, Argemí, Sørensen, Ahmadi, Barbosa and Laustsen.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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The bee sting apparatus. (A) The venom apparatus consists of three functionally distinct parts: (1) The venom-related part is composed of a venom sac, two venom glands, and a bulb. (2) The motor part is composed of muscles, plates, and ramus on each side. (3) The piercing part is composed of two lancets and a stylet (note: the stylet cannot be observed in this figure since the longitudinal section has passed from the middle of the venom canal that leaves the stylet on the upper section). (B) Barbs anchor the stinger into the skin, from where the stinger cannot be retracted when the bee escapes (i.e., sting autotomy).