Digger wasps of the family Crabronidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) are generally known to use their sting to paralyze or kill a prey. However, only a few species of digger wasps transport their prey to the nest impaled on the sting. How sting morphology correlates with this peculiar type of prey carriage is still unclear. We examined the sting morphology of two phylogenetically closely-related species of digger wasps of similar size, which hunt for similar preys but use different types of prey transportation. Data from light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) were analyzed to find possible correlations between shape, material composition, and function of the stings. The similarity of the material composition in the stings of the two species suggests that the material of stings does not play a dominant role in their functional differences. On the contrary, differences in the curvature and surface sculpture of sting elements likely result in different stress distributions under mechanical loading.

中文翻译：

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两种挖掘者黄蜂（膜翅目：Crabronidae）的with的功能形态，具有不同类型的猎物运输。

众所周知，Crabronidae科（Insecta：Hymenoptera）的挖掘黄蜂会利用它们的st麻来麻痹或杀死猎物。但是，只有少数几种挖掘机黄蜂将猎物运输到刺穿刺的巢中。刺形态与这种特殊类型的猎物运输如何相关尚不清楚。我们研究了两个系统相似的，接近大小的挖掘机黄蜂的系统形态，它们搜寻相似的猎物，但使用不同类型的猎物运输。分析了来自光学显微镜（LM），扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和共焦激光扫描显微镜（CLSM）的数据，以发现shape的形状，材料成分和功能之间可能的相关性。这两个物种的ing的材料组成相似，这表明st的材料在它们的功能差异中并不起主导作用。相反，st钉元件的曲率和表面雕刻的差异可能会导致机械载荷下的应力分布不同。