Honey bees are able to wiggle their abdomens² in a variety of ways. Now new research published in the Journal of Insect Science shows how they are able to do it. In 2015, a team of researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing used a high-speed camera to observe how honey bees curl their abdomens while in flight and under restraint, confirming that bees can manipulate the shape of their abdomens, but only in one direction -- down, toward the bee's underside.

 

Now the same team has identified the mechanism³ behind that movement. Specialized⁴ membranes⁶ that connect a honey bee's abdominal⁷ segments are thicker on the top of the abdomen¹ than on the bottom, allowing curling in just one direction.

 

Honey bee abdomens contain up to nine overlapping⁸ segments that are similar to little armored plates. A thin, flexible layer of cells called the folded intersegmental membrane⁵ (FIM) connects the tough outer plates, allowing each concentric segment not just to attach to its neighbor, but to slide into the next one. The authors call this movement "telescoping."

 

"Our research on the ultrastructure of the FIM is of great significance to reveal the bending and flexing⁹ motion mechanism of the honey bee abdomen," said Professor Shaoze Yan, one of the co-authors. "During nectar feeding, a honey bee's abdomen does high-frequency respiratory exercises and assists the suction behavior of mouthparts to improve the intake¹⁰ efficiency."

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