Horse Guard Wasp Images

Horse Guard Wasp Images, Facts and Information:

Stictia carolina

  • Horse Guard Wasps are slender predatory wasps with narrow waists, long legs, black bodies with yellow markings, and clear wings. Adults are medium-sized and measure 0.5 to 0.75 inches in length.
  • Horse Guard Wasps are found in the southeastern and central United States, from Florida north to the Mid-Atlantic and west to Texas and the Midwest. Horse Guard Wasps inhabit open fields, pastures, meadows, and sandy areas where horse flies are common. They are often seen flying low over grass or visiting flowers.
  • Horse Guard Wasps feed on nectar as adults. They capture horse flies, deer flies, and other large flies in flight, which they paralyze and store as food for their larvae.
  • Female Horse Guard Wasps dig burrows in sandy soil with several chambers, each stocked with paralyzed flies. Eggs are laid singly on the stored prey, which nourishes the developing larvae. Only one egg is laid per burrow.
  • Horse Guard Wasps are solitary and do not form colonies.
  • A group of wasps can be called a “colony” or a “swarm,” though Horse Guard Wasps are usually observed singly.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Horse Guard Wasp photos.