The horse keeper of wasps , Stictia carolina , is a type of sand bee (Bembicini) from the eastern United States that preys mainly on horse fly (Tabanidae). It is a large, colorful, fast-flying wasp, one of 28 species in the Stictia genus (which occurs throughout North and South America), all of which have similar biology. Video Horse guard wasp
Biology
A female wasp of this species can take from 30 to 60 flies as food to provide each nest; he made a new nest for every egg he put down. The nest is a simple 15 cm deep, with one enlarged space at the bottom. Eggs are placed in empty spaces, and female wasps carry crippled flies and occasionally silver-eyed captain larvae until the room is full (mass provision), at which point he closes the nest and starts the other. Many females often dig a nest inside a small area where the soil fits, creating large nesting aggregates and sometimes very dense. Almost all prey bite female female flies; extra flies, other flies like Odontomyia and the Cochliomyia worm flies were taken.
Horses and livestock are not disturbed by the presence of the horseman's bee, even though the flight is fast and buzzing loudly; but the same animal may react violently to horse flies or fly bots. Nevertheless, these beneficial wasps are sometimes omitted by unknown horse owners, thus exacerbating their problems with horse flies.
Hornet keeper acts as a natural biological control, helping keep the horse fly population down. This makes it important for the economy of the regions where horses are maintained; in the words of Bohart and Menke, it "fully lives up to its name".
The generic name "Stictia" may be related to the "stictis" of Ancient Greece which means "spotted"; the specific name "carolina" is a reference to the eastern American state where the species is genuine. This happens from the 100th meridian to the east, and as far north as Pennsylvania.
Maps Horse guard wasp
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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