Tarantula hawks - pest control (extermination, yard, dual citizenship)

[Marcy1210]

Where's my epi-pen? I just might be needing it, although I can run pretty fast, if I don't pass out from unabated fear first.

[ZonyPony]

Originally Posted by Marcy1210

Where's my epi-pen? I just might be needing it, although I can run pretty fast, if I don't pass out from unabated fear first.

No worries. Just use your Taser on them. You'll be fine!

[.45acp]

The T-Hawk has the most powerful sting of any insect in N. America. There's a guy in U of A that did a 'pain' index' on stings... and this one: "Is like being in a tub full of water and having an electric heater dropped in. The only thing you can do is lay on the ground and scream for several hours." We've killed about 12 of them. Hornet spray will work (eventually) but a BB pistol (Crosman 1200) is instantly effective. There seem to be two types... red winged and black winged. We prefer that the Tarantulas survive. They're harmless and eat bugs. The T-hawks are fast flyers for their size, and can run pretty fast as well.

[OnryOne]

Several species of the wasps known as "tarantula hawks" inhabit the desert lands of the southwest. Pepsis formosa and Pepsis thisbe are probably the two most common. Wasps in the genus Hemipepsis are also known as "tarantula hawks." The species are difficult to distinguish.

Description

Body lengths measures up to two inches, and the wasps are rather robust, which provides good protection during encounters with tarantulas. The insects are metallic blue-black with wings that are blue-black, orangish or mahogany in color. This is another group of insects which, like velvet ants, have aposematic coloring – that is, conspicuous warning coloring – which warns potential predators that this is a meal that might be more painful that it is worth.

Range

Pepsis is a New World genus, with species occurring from Argentina northward to Logan, Utah. Over 250 species are found in South America. Fifteen occur in the United States, with at least nine occurring in the deserts. Tarantula hawks occur wherever tarantulas are found. P. thisbe is the most northern ranging of the genus.

Predator and Prey

Only a few animals, such as roadrunners, eat tarantula hawks. The wasps are "nectivorous," and they have been known to become "flight-challenged" after consuming fermented fruit.

Tarantula hawks are most active in the summer, during the day, although they avoid the highest temperatures. Females give the wasps their common name. Like all members of this genus, they require a spider to serve as host for their larvae, and in the case of the local species, tarantulas are the preferred nursery.

A female wasp finds a tarantula by smell. Generally, she scampers across the ground to locate a burrow. She will enter the burrow and expel the spider, then attack it. She may also encounter a male tarantula during his search for a mate. In an attack, the wasp uses her antennae to probe the spider, which may raise its front legs and bare its fangs. (A tarantula does not always counterattack.) She then attempts to sting the spider. She might seize the spider by a leg, flip it over on its back and sting it, or she may approach from the side to deliver a sting. Once stung, the tarantula becomes paralyzed within seconds. The condition will last for the remainder of its life. The wasp may drink the body fluids oozing from the spider’s wounds or from its mouth to replenish nutrients and water she used during the attack.

If the wasp expelled her victim, she will drag it back into its own burrow, now a burial vault, lay a single egg on the spider’s abdomen, then seal the chamber. If the wasp succeeds in stinging a male tarantula on a mating hunt, she will excavate a burrow, drag the paralyzed spider inside, lay her single egg, and seal the chamber

[SIZE=2]Once the egg hatches, the tiny grub, initially connected to the spider by the tip of its tail, bends over, attaches its head and begins to suck. It continues sucking until its final moult. It then rips open the spider's abdomen, thrusts its head and part of the thorax inside, and "feeds ravenously," as one entomologist described it. As one might hope, even for a spider, the tarantula at this point is finally dead.
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[SIZE=2]Male tarantula wasps also lead an intriguing life. They engage in a behavior called "hill-topping," where they perch on taller vegetation or high points. They are strongly territorial at these sites because of the good view of the surroundings and in particular, of newly emerged virgin females, which may be receptive to mating. Once again we see that males of another species act quite like males of our own species; think of males posted up at a bar keeping an eye on the door.

Notes

Tarantula hawk stings are considered to be the most painful of any North American insect. Christopher Starr wrote an article entitled, "A Pain Scale for Bee, Wasp and Ant Stings." On a scale of one to four, Pepsis formosa was one of only two insects to rate a four. This compares with a one for a Solenopsis xyloni (desert fire ant), two for a Apis mellifera (honey bee) and three for a Dasymutilla klugii (velvet ant).

One researcher described the tarantula hawk’s sting this way: "To me, the pain is like an electric wand that hits you, inducing an immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations. The pain for me lasted only about three minutes, during which time the sting area was insensitive to touch, i.e., a pencil point poked near the sting resulted only in a dull deep pressure pain."
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[SIZE=2]Nasty lil critters......
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[Nick0578]

jesus christ....do they have these things in Scottsdale?

[pepsis]

Fontucky is correct in everything he said. If you were "chased" by something that looked like a huge wasp, that creature may well have been a male Pepsis (which cannot sting) which try to bluff unwelcome visitors from their territory, a drone bumble bee (which does a lot of bluffing) or some other kind of wasp or even giant fly (robber flies and mydas flies "buzz" people occasionally - but rarely), mimicking large wasps and bees.

I have been in the midst of literally dozens of Pepsis in one of their main havens: a large patch of blooming milkweed in Arizona and I've collected them for years where they nectar (like butterflies) on wild flowers. Pepsis are magnificent creatures and, for all intents and purposes, harmless to us. Unless you happen to feel like grabbing a female in your bare hand (males can be handled), you have absolutely nothing to fear from them. They will defend themselves under that odd circumstance because they rightfully feel that they are in mortal danger themselves, but will not follow you, let alone chase you.

The bugman123 photo represents one of the largest species in the world (possibly THE largest) which hails from South America, where they prey on the world's largest tarantulas. The wings of these giants are specially reinforced to handle the great stress imposed on them while propelling their un-wasp-like weight through the air. A friend of mine netted one in Brazil one morning and said that the wasp literally lifted the net bag up from the ground as it tried to fly away. And unless you grab one in your hand (and hold on), they are just as harmless as butterflies (though the locals, like their North American counterparts, are sometimes terrified of them).

You don't need to avoid them; they will avoid you.

Dave Williams

[Julia_Italy]

Originally Posted by Wolfer

Hi I live in Queen Creek, About 40 miles Southwest of Phoenix. Walked outside tonight onto my back porch and herd this loud flying noise. I quickly closed the door and turned on the light to see the scary old booger flying around my porch. Yes the Tarantula Hawk lives in AZ too. Its huge and from what I read has the second most painful insect sting in the world.

Do you mean that they are nocturnal as well? Do they fly at night, too? I didn't know that! The idea that I could run into one in the dark terrifies me.

Oh, that terrible loud flying noise: It sounds like a helicopter!

[Julia_Italy]

Originally Posted by pepsis

Fontucky is correct in everything he said. If you were "chased" by something that looked like a huge wasp, that creature may well have been a male Pepsis (which cannot sting)

Why did you put "chased" in quotation marks? Is it because I did so in my previous post, or are you perhaps questioning my experience / empirical observation in order to defend the reputation of these animals at all costs? A pepsis wasp did chase me, pursue me, follow me - whichever verb suits you best.

Perhaps it was a male, but how is one to tell them apart under such circumstances?

They ... will not follow you, let alone chase you.

You don't need to avoid them; they will avoid you.

This, I am afraid, is NOT the behaviour that I have observed. Yesterday, one of them flew past me, then it turned around and seemingly tried to charge and chase me, although I had remained as calm and still as possible.

It flew towards me. I moved a little, but it kept following me at a high speed.

At that point, I started running away from it as fast as possible, but it kept following me all the way to my car.

[Julia_Italy]

Originally Posted by ZonyPony

No worries. Just use your Taser on them. You'll be fine!

Your sarcasm baffles me: Has it become politically incorrect to wish to exterminate the stinging insects that have invaded one's yard?

And no, I do not find them "wonderful," "amazing," "fascinating," "magnificent" or anything of that sort. I sincerely dislike them in every possible way, and I have no intention of changing my anthropocentric perspective.

I understand that they may serve some important purpose in the grand scheme of things, but they have no function, nor are they welcome, near my house.

[azhiker]

Originally Posted by Julia_Italy

...Has it become politically incorrect to wish to exterminate the stinging insects that have invaded one's yard?

In a word, yes. This sort of blatant bias against StingingInsect-Americans is unacceptable.