Often mistaken for its close relative, the Eastern Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus), this large male Horse Guard Wasp (Stictia carolina) sure does bear a similar resemblance. Despite this being a male that I’m holding, the females of this particular wasp species are far more interesting. The females will dig out burrows in the sand and will lay a single egg into each one of the burrows that she has excavated. After her eggs have hatched, the female Horse Guard Wasp will fly out in search for horse flies. Due to horse flies being pretty abundant at places like farms and ranches where horses can typically be found, Horse Guard Wasps can be found there also! Once a female has spotted a horse fly, she goes and grabs ahold of the horse fly and immediately stings it. The venom injected from her stinger doesn’t kill the horse fly, but instead leaves its body completely paralyzed! The female Horse Guard Wasp then flies the paralyzed insect back to her burrow for her young larva to feed on. She will go out and continue catching horse flies to feed each of her babies in each of their burrows. Once the larvae acquire enough energy from their meal, they then pupate and eventually emerge out from their burrows as adult Horse Guard Wasps. Oh, and you might be wondering about this male that appears to be stinging me. Well, that stinger-like appendage is not a stinger at all. It’s the males’s pseudostinger. Because there is no such thing as a male wasp possessing a venomous sting, male wasps have adapted a method of appearing like they can deal some damage. Its pseudostinger, which is nothing more than its genitalia, looks and mimics the appearance and also the motion of a defensive angry female wasp stinger. Prickly? Yes. Venomous? No. Completely harmless? Entirely. Pretty neat huh? *Hand drawn stickers added to my store’s website for purchase via link in bio! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already by clicking the YouTube icon in my bio!*⁣ ⁣ #Jesus #God #stictiacarolina #entomology #horseguardwasp #spiders #hymenoptera #insects #invertebrates #arthropods #wasp #wasps #bugs #arachnids #horses #horseflies #tarantulas #tarantulasofinstagram - @kelvin_wiley