#pompilidae

[VIDEO AND PHOTOS TAKEN: SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2024 | Video and Image IDs: A video and two photos of a red/orange and black rusty spider wasp digging rapidly through sandy soil, covered in grains of sand /End IDs.]

A rusty spider wasp (Tachypompilus ferrugineus) paralyses a wetland giant wolf spider (Tigrosa helluo) in south Texas, USA

The Tantalizing Tarantula Hawk Wasp

Tarantula hawk wasps are a group of over 400 wasp species distributed between the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis. The genus Pepsis is found only in North and South America, while Hemipepsis is found throughout sub-saharan Africa, south and southeast Asia, and Australia, as well as the Americas. They are restricted to warmer climates, although some species are more tolerant of arid environments such deserts while others live only in areas with regular rainfall.

Tarantula hawk wasps are some of the largest wasps in the world, with some species reaching up to 11 cm (4 in) in length, although most are closer to 6.5 cm (2.5 in). Adults are generally are dark iridescent blue or black with orange wings, although some species are entirely black.

Despite their fearsome reputation, tarantula hawks actually feed primarily on nectar, especially that of milkweeds, western soapberry trees, and mesquite trees. Thanks to their painful sting, they have few natural predators- although some larger species of frog, such as American bullfrogs, as well as roadrunners, are known to hunt them.

Tarantula hawks are named for their habit of parasitizing tarantulas as a part of their reproductive cycle. First, males establish a temporary territory and wait for a female to come near enough to court. When they are ready to lay their eggs the females will seek out a tarantula, paralyze it with their sting, and bring it back to a burrow where they leg a single egg in the tarantula's abdomen. Fertilized eggs develop into females, while unfertilized eggs produce males. After the eggs hatch, they devour the tarantula from the inside out. After several weeks, the larvae pupates and emerges as a fully mature adult.

Conservation status: No species of tarantula hawk is considered Endangered. However, some species may be vulnerable to habitat loss or the decline of the tarantula species in which they lay their eggs.

Photos

Robb Hannawacker

Ned Harris

Spider Wasp, genus Fabriogenia.

Potter Wasp, subfamily Eumeninae.

Potter Wasp, genus Paralastor.

Square-headed Wasp, subfamily Crabroninae.

Vase-cell Mud-dauber Wasp, Sceliphron formosum.

Square-headed Wasp, genus Pison.

A pair of flying milkweed fans. Not sure if they’re the same species or not! I was thinking tarantula hawk of some sort but not sure.

Southern California - Santa Monica Mountains

My favourite wasps I have seen this summer

A lovely little chalcid that got stuck in some water and walked around a petri dish I was holding while she dried off

The gorls! Cynips divisa and C. longiventris on the same tree, featuring some bonus Macrodiplosis pustularis midge galls

Chalcids chalcids chalcids (first one is an encyrtid)

A cute ichneumonoid that showed up for my birthday picnic, and some Chrysis viridula hanging around potter wasp nests

A strange one which I think may be an ichneumonoid but I haven't seen any others with pitted carapaces like that, and my good friend the red legged spider wasp (Episyron rufipes). Their strength knows no bounds

Three Nemka viduata. I saw velvet ants for the first ever time this year and ended up seeing quite a few before going back home, including this male which I happened to catch near a female. What a wild size difference and what gorgeous wasps

Two more new families for me, an ensign wasp (Evaniidae) and a bembicid, although this Bembecinus is actually the second I found

My pfp, an emerald cuckoo wasp (Stilbum cyanurum) I just barely got a photo of (I'm as surprised as you are that it's identifiable to species) and one of the largest wasps I've seen, Sphex pruinosus

Two potter wasps, a Eumenes sp. (probably mediterranneus) and Delta unguiculatum

A carrot wasp (Gasteruption sp.) with a shorter tail than the ones I'm used to, fittingly sipping away at a carrot species, and my first beewolf (Philanthus triangulum), which I've been hoping to find for a long time, they're fascinating

A eupelmid I thought looked interesting and a classic wauce lauste in the sauce (Vespula germanica)

Bighead baby. A crabronid that looks about as ridiculous as all crabronids and a European hornet (Vespa crabro) going to town on an ash cicada (Cicada orni), which freaked my family out