The Fearsome Tarantula Hawk

Found on 6 continents, the female tarantula hawk has one of the most intensely painful stings in the insect kingdom. It is a parasitoid spider wasp, and it uses its powerful venom to paralyze its arachnid victim before taking it to a brood nest, where it will be eaten alive by the wasp larva that hatches there. Though you may never see one, even in places where they thrive, it pays to be aware of this bug. Though less gruesome than the terrible fate of a victimized tarantula, a sting from this wasp will definately be the low point of your week.

Growing up to 5 inches long, they are one of the largest of wasp species, and can be recognized by a blue-black body with rust colored wings. Less common varieties have all black bodies and wings that are fringed with blue. The vivid colors serve as a poison warning to potential predators, a strategy known as aposematism which is shared by frogs, caterpillars and many other poisonous insects. When the female wasp captures a tarantula, she lays a single egg on the spider's abdomen, and seals up the lair. The larva, once hatched, eats its way inside the still-living victim and begins to gorge itself. Particularly ghastly is the larvas instinct to avoid eating vital organs until last, thus keeping the spider alive for as long as possible.

The tarantula hawk, like other highly dangerous animals such as elephants and people, has a real penchant for drunkenness! Though in infancy the insect devours the living flesh of its prey, as an adult it feeds on nectar and fruit. Having gorged itself on fermenting fruit, the wasp has been often observed to stumble and have difficulty flying. The species found in the American Southwest are fond of milkweed and mesquite flowers, but varieties of the wasp are found on all continents except Antarctica. One of the North American species, Pepsis Grossa is the one with the reputation for mind-blowingly painful stings, topped only by the bite of the South American bullet ant.

The sting is described as an undreamed -of level of pain, which renders the victim somewhat paralyzed in the sting's immediate vicinity, and unable to do anything but lay down and scream in pain! Fortunately, once the pain subsides after 3-5 minutes, there is no danger, and no treatment is necessary. Adopted as the state insect of New Mexico in 1989, the wasp has few predators, with the exception of another New Mexican icon, the badass roadrunner.

Here is a video of a masochist voluntarily getting stung by a female P grossa wasp. It happens around the 11 minute mark. Ouch!