The best fit is the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), and the surprising comparison is worker versus queen.
Its glossa is a segmented rod fringed with micrometre-scale hairs. During withdrawal, nectar forms curved menisci between adjacent hairs. The curvature difference creates Laplace pressure, so the hairy tongue entrains a sleeve of nectar rather than working as a straw.
The body-size paradox comes from scaling: queens are much larger and have longer tongues, but their hair spacing grows disproportionately, making the tongue more porous. Workers have more closely packed hairs and therefore fill a greater fraction of their tongue's available volume per lap. Larger queens can carry more nectar in absolute terms, yet their tongue is less efficient relative to its capacity—one physical reason workers take over colony foraging.
The best fit is the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), and the surprising comparison is worker versus queen.
Its glossa is a segmented rod fringed with micrometre-scale hairs. During withdrawal, nectar forms curved menisci between adjacent hairs. The curvature difference creates Laplace pressure, so the hairy tongue entrains a sleeve of nectar rather than working as a straw.
The body-size paradox comes from scaling: queens are much larger and have longer tongues, but their hair spacing grows disproportionately, making the tongue more porous. Workers have more closely packed hairs and therefore fill a greater fraction of their tongue's available volume per lap. Larger queens can carry more nectar in absolute terms, yet their tongue is less efficient relative to its capacity—one physical reason workers take over colony foraging.
Primary study (SEM + high-speed video): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41525482/