An accidental sting has helped Japanese scientists prove some male wasps have a rather unusual predator defence weapon: penis spikes.
An accidental sting has helped Japanese scientists prove some male wasps have a rather unusual predator defence weapon: penis spikes.
While wasps are known for their prickly attacks, only females have a real sting in their tails. Their male counterparts generally evade predators by mimicking the fairer sex.
Scientists had theorised that some male wasps might have other defence mechanisms, including perhaps deploying their genital spikes.
«However, the evidence was lacking,» explained Shinji Sugiura, an ecologist at Japan’s Kobe University.
Sugiura studies animal anti-predator defences but it was only by chance that he investigated the unusual male wasp mechanism, after his graduate student and co-author reported being stung by a mason wasp.
«I tried to be stung after hearing her experience,» Sugiura told AFP.
«Because I had believed male wasps as harmless, I was very surprised to experience the pain.
