image credit: bugman123.com
image credit: gravityh.comHabitat: India to Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas
Just look at that thing!! The Tarantula Hawk wasp is a freaky looking devil that, luckily, is pretty much found everywhere! Yippee! As one of the largest wasps in the world, it only seems right that it should hunt - yep, you guessed it - Tarantulas. The stinger of a female can be up to 7 mm long and delivers one of the most painful stings in the insect world.
Want to know just exactly what they do to their prey? Well... since you asked...
Tarantula hawks will find a juicy female tarantula and proceed to paralyze the spider then drag it back to its burrow. A single egg is laid upon the tarantula and the entrance to the burrow is sealed, basically trapping the spider with the carnivorous larva. Once it hatches, the larva digs into the spider, voraciously feeding on it from the inside out while avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it "fresh." After it's done, the adult wasp will emerge from the burrow ready to repeat the gruesome cycle.
How absolutely what the %$@! is that?!!?
Want to know just exactly what they do to their prey? Well... since you asked...
Tarantula hawks will find a juicy female tarantula and proceed to paralyze the spider then drag it back to its burrow. A single egg is laid upon the tarantula and the entrance to the burrow is sealed, basically trapping the spider with the carnivorous larva. Once it hatches, the larva digs into the spider, voraciously feeding on it from the inside out while avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it "fresh." After it's done, the adult wasp will emerge from the burrow ready to repeat the gruesome cycle.
How absolutely what the %$@! is that?!!?
7 comments:
Well at least it only lays a single egg.
Glad I'm not a tarantula. That sounds like a horrible death!
I wonder why it is only the female tarantula that becomes the meal. So curious!
What bet did the person in the first pic lose to be stuck holding a wasp, with one of the most painful stings in the insect world, in their bare hand?
And Maybe it's only the female tarantulas because they are bigger? The male tarantula has a much smaller abdomen, so maybe it doesn't provide as much food? That is an interesting thought though.
You should do a post on Camel Spiders!!!! This reminded my boyfriend of camel spiders but we couldn't find too much information on them.
Oh my, that is a horrific death! Nature at it's cruelest...
Video of the aftermath...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNVizAdB70
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