Scientist Shinji Sugiura studied whether the black-spotted pond frog (pelophylax nigromaculatus) will actively hunt various species of hornet wasps, including the so-called murder hornet. Not only did the frogs swallow the insects forcefully, they also did so while easily avoiding the poisonous stings of the hornets. The researcher says frogs’ natural ability to tolerate poison that is deadly to many mammals, including humans, could potentially teach us a thing or two.
“If pond frogs have physiological mechanisms that suppress pain or resist hornet venom, understanding them may one day help us develop new ways to reduce pain or inflammation in humans,” Sugiura, an ecologist at Kobe University in Japan, told Gizmodo in an email.
find a chance
Sugiura was not initially planning to explore the poison-killing powers of pond frogs. But during an earlier study of how mason wasps defend themselves, he and his colleagues used frogs as one of the predators. They then observed that the frogs could easily prey on female wasps that have venomous stingers (only female wasps have venom-injecting stingers, but the team’s research showed that male mason wasps can use their penises as a type of non-venomous sting).
That observation made Sugiura curious enough to do a deeper investigation himself. Adult hornets have been found inside the stomachs of various frogs, including P. nigromaculatusThis shows that frogs sometimes eat them in the forest. But the question remained: Do frogs eat these hornets in a desperate attempt to avoid their stings, or in spite of them? To find out, Sugiura set up an experimental buffet.
They collected black-spotted pond frogs of various sizes and left them alone with female workers of three horned species: Vespa Simillima, V.AnalyseAnd V. MandariniaThat last species is called the Northern Giant Hornet, aka the Murder Hornet, Although their nickname is mostly derived from how ferociously the hornets hunt bees, their painful stings sometimes kill humans, It is also the largest species of hornet and was an invasive threat in North America many years ago,
Across the board, the frogs were very interested in munching on the horns, and they weren’t afraid to get bit for their trouble. They were also usually successful in eating their prey; Lowest capture rate observed V. MandariniaAt 79%.
“Using a large number of individual frogs, I showed quantitatively that many of them successfully caught and ate the hornets, despite being stung,” Sugiura said. “Hornet stingers are powerful weapons that normally deter most predators, yet these results show that some animals can tolerate such venomous attacks and still hunt these insects.”
Sugiura’s findings were published Thursday in the journal Ecosphere.
lessons must be learned
The frogs appeared to shrug off the venomous sting without any apparent harm. That said, it’s still unclear how they are tanking them.
For mammals like us, hornet stings are known to be incredibly painful and sometimes fatal. But it’s possible that the complex mixture of toxins naturally produced by these wasps doesn’t affect the amphibian’s biology that much. Or perhaps frogs have evolved traits that make them less sensitive to poison or make them feel much less pain from a sting than a typical mammal.
Whatever the case, understanding the anti-venom defenses of these frogs could certainly lead to important new discoveries. Next, Sugiura plans to study whether pond frogs can easily withstand the poisonous stings of other arthropods (insects, arachnids and other creepy-crawlies). And in the future, he would like to experimentally test how tolerant frogs are to hornet stings.
Sugiura also hopes that his current work can demonstrate that even the ferocious murder hornet is not exempt from being part of the food chain.
“I believe this discovery provides a surprising insight for the general public, showing that not one of the most threatened insects in the world is completely safe from hunting,” he said.
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