What structure is the stinging apparatus in Apocrita derived from?
Answer
A modified ovipositor used for egg-laying.
The stinging capability observed in many wasps, bees, and ants within the Apocrita suborder is not a completely novel structure but rather a highly specialized evolutionary modification of an existing organ. This apparatus originates from the ovipositor, the tube-like organ females use for depositing eggs. Over evolutionary time, in many lineages such as those leading to stinging wasps, this organ became modified into a venom-delivering structure used defensively or offensively to paralyze prey, though the basal function remained tied to reproduction in related groups like parasitic wasps that retain the functional ovipositor.
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