Bees resort to biting when faced with pests, such as parasitic mites, that are too small to sting.
Close study of
the biting behaviour has revealed that they secrete a chemical in their bite
that stuns pests so they are easier to eject from a colony.
Tests suggest
the chemical could also have a role in human medicine, as a local anaesthetic.
Stun tests
Dr Alexandros
Papachristoforou, a biologist at Greece's Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
told the BBC honey-bees had previously been seen dealing with pests that lived
alongside them in colonies but this had always thought to be part of their
grooming behaviour.
"Everybody
thought that was it. Full stop," Dr Papachristoforou said. "But
that's not the case. It's something totally different and was just there and we
could not see it.
"I think
we know too many things about the pathology of honey bees," he said.
"We are still missing a lot of basic knowledge on their biology and
behaviour."
The pests that
honey-bees bite include varroa mites as well as wax moth larvae.
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