Raising head facilitates antenna cleaning in a honey bee

Antennae are arguably of significance for honey bees to engage in olfaction, foraging, flying and other physiological behaviors. Contamination on the hairy antennae by dust and pollen is an ineluctable problem. Honey bees have a special structure, namely the antenna cleaner on their forelegs, to clean their antennae with. The antenna cleaner is composed of a deep notch on the ventral surface of the proximal end of the basitarsus and a large spur, which is movable, inserted at the inner angle of the distal end of the tibia. To maintain cleanliness, a honey bee grooms antennae frequently by swinging forelegs with the elaborate antenna cleaner. By high-speed imaging, we find that the honey bee raises its head while grooming antennae by forelegs. By theoretical and experimental combined study, we demonstrate that the head-raising behavior accelerates relative speed by 310% and increases friction force by 70%, which facilitates a swift and efficient grooming stroke. This behavior may inspire next-generation cleaning devices applied in microelectromechanical systems.