The stings of both honey bees and paper wasps are featured by
barbs. The lancets literally saw through the victim’s fresh as each in
turn is thrust forward and anchored in place by their barbs (Akre
et al., 1981). The barbs have unique biological and mechanical
functions, for example, to help efficiently hold preys and prevent
them from slipping off the sting. During the insertion of a sting into
a tissue, the barbs may reduce the penetration force through two
main mechanisms. First, owing to the barb-induced stress
concentration in the tissue, the sting can cut the tissue more easily
(Cho et al., 2012). Second, tissue fluids can be squeezed out at the
barb positions and serve as lubricants. Thereby, the decreased
coefficient of friction helps to reduce the penetration force.