Too long to read? Go for the highlights below. Female stinkbugs of the species Megymenum gracilicorne cultivate symbiotic fungi on specialised glands in their hind legs, then deliberately coat their eggs with the organisms to create a protective barrier approximately 2 millimetres thick. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that parasitic wasps attacked 62 per cent of unprotected eggs but only 10 per cent of fungi-covered eggs, suggesting the fungi provide physical rather than