Male wasps use penis spikes to ward off predators, say scientists in Japan

Male wasps lack the organ that females use to sting, but are equipped with two large spikes that sit either side of their penis, scientists said

‘Male wasps were frequently observed to pierce the mouth or other parts of frogs with their genitalia,’ said an ecologist at Japan’s Kobe University

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A male mason wasp uses its genital spike to sting a frog trying to eat the wasp, at a lab in Kobe, Japan. Photo: Kobe University / AFP

Published: 3:23am, 20 Dec 2022Updated: 8:06am, 20 Dec 2022

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.

While female wasps have a sting in their tail, male wasps generally evade predators by mimicking the fairer sex. Photo: Shutterstock

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.