Prey-carriage
Guides
Oxybelus
spiny digger wasps
Oxybelus is the largest genus in the family Crabronidae, comprising approximately 264 described species of solitary wasps commonly known as spiny digger wasps. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring worldwide except in the Australasian region, with particular diversity in the Palearctic. Species are specialized predators of flies (Diptera), exhibiting distinctive prey capture and transport behaviors. Multiple species have been studied for their unique sting morphology and reduced paralyzing sting sequence relative to other digger wasps.
Oxybelus uniglumis
square-headed wasp
Oxybelus uniglumis is a solitary digger wasp in the family Crabronidae, tribe Oxybelini. The species is specialized for hunting flies (Diptera), capturing them with an extremely concentrated stinging pattern that targets the prey's nervous system. Unlike many related wasps that deliver multiple stings to thoracic ganglia, O. uniglumis typically delivers only a single thoracic sting behind one foreleg base, reflecting the reduced ganglionic structure of fly prey. The species uses its sting apparatus not only for prey paralysis but also for transporting captured flies to nest sites.