Department of Taxonomy of Entomophagous Insects and Ecological Principles of Biocontrol, Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, NAS of Ukraine, vul. B. Khmelnytskogo, 15, 01030 Kyiv, Ukraine; Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
Arthropod Struct Dev. 2019 Sep;52:100882. doi: 10.1016/j.asd.2019.100882. Epub 2019 Aug 28.
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.
土蜂科（膜翅目：胡蜂总科）的挖掘蜂通常使用螫针来麻痹或杀死猎物。然而，只有少数几种土蜂会将被螫针刺穿的猎物运送到巢中。螫针形态与这种特殊的猎物运输方式之间的关系尚不清楚。我们检查了两种大小相似、亲缘关系密切的挖掘蜂的螫针形态，它们捕猎相似的猎物，但使用不同类型的猎物运输方式。利用光学显微镜（LM）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和共聚焦激光扫描显微镜（CLSM）获得的数据来寻找螫针形状、材料组成和功能之间可能存在的相关性。两种物种螫针的材料组成相似，表明螫针的材料在其功能差异中没有起主导作用。相反，螫针元件的曲率和表面结构的差异可能导致在机械加载下不同的应力分布。
