Wild Tarantula Hawk

[Pitter]

This is not a great photo, I shot it with a 400 5.6 of all things while birding but it serves to illustrate a story. These wasps are in the Pepsis Hemipepsis genera and they parasitize the tarantulas I posted a picture of. They have a venom that paralyzes the spider which is then dragged to a hole and deposited. The wasp then lays an egg on it and when it hatches the baby wasp eats live spider. It even knows to not eat critical organs so as to keep the spider alive as long as possible. I had a caretaker who was cavalier about scorpions even picking them up by the tail sometimes and letting them walk on his arm but he was extremely chary of this wasp. On the Schmidt insect sting pain index this wasp has the second worst sting followed by the Bullet Ant. And you can imagine why that is so named.

 

[JackBarley]

I did not realise how big these were until I looked them up. That is one evil creature.

 

[Lyndsey]

Dr Justin Schmidt describing the sting -

"The pain was instantaneous, electrifying, excruciating and totally debilitating."

"Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream)."

A 400mm lens doesn't sound enough to me!

 

[Lyndsey]

The rest of the pain scale - I love these descriptions!!

1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.
1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
2.x Honey bee and European hornet: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.
3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream).
4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.

 

[Peteaud]

Holy Sh1t thats a nasty thing.

 

[Pitter]

Ha ha love those descriptions too. And regarding the Bullet Ant it is called that because it feels like you've been hit by a bullet. What's more there are some crazy Indian croups that deliberately let themselves get bitten (ants don't sting, they bite) as a test to move forward into manhood..But back to my wasp fortunately they are mild mannered if you're not a Tarantula. I have often walked through a few buzzing along the ground and they've never gotten disturbed.