Scientists have already discovered that female bees and wasps use stingers that have evolved from egg-laying apparatus to launch attacks.
A recent study published in Current Biology found that male wasps can also use sharp genital stingers to attack and impale predatory tree frogs in order to avoid predation.
For further study, the researchers put male wasps together with tree frog predators.
All of the frogs attacked the male wasps, but more than a third of the frogs spat them back out.
The researchers witnessed the wasps stinging the frogs with their genitals as they were attacked.
When the researchers fed the tree frogs wasps without genitalia, the frogs ate them all.
The findings suggest that male wasps can use their genitals to sting predators and avoid being eaten.
Because male genital stingers (called “pseudostingers”) have been found in several wasp families, the researchers say this new discovery is a good way to avoid being eaten.
The researchers say this newfound defense may be present in more wasp species.
