Pepsid Wasp (Pepsis chrysothemis)

 

Key Identifying Characteristics

Large wasp which is extremely black with bright orange wings

 

Habitat

Throughout the Sonoran Desert

 

Adaptations to desert living

No specific desert adaptations

 

Description (life cycle, special interactions, etc.)

Tarantula hawks are the largest wasps in the United States and

are very strong flyers.  They are called ‘hawks’ because they swoop down, pick up their prey and carry it off.  The females will capture tarantulas (hence the other part of their name) which they will use as a source of food for their young.  The adult wasps only feed on necture and pollen, particularly those of milkweed plants. 

 

After capturing a tarantula, the female tarantula hawk stings the spider which paralyzes it.  The wasp digs a borough and stuffs the paralyzed spider inside.  She then lays an egg on the spider, crawls out of the borough and seals the entrance.  When the wasp larva hatches, it has a source of fresh food as the spider is still living.  After pupating, the young wasp will dig its way out of the borough and begin its life as an adult wasp.

 

These wasps are extremely passive to humans and are highly unlikely to sting without provocation.  It has been reported however, that their sting is one of the most painful stings in the insect world.

 

I found this organism to be really interesting because

I found this animal to be interesting because its use of the live tarantula is, at the same time, macabre and clever! 

It tests the boundary of what we might think of as right and wrong.

 

References

A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert. Phillips & Comus, ASDM Press

 

Desert Holes.  Merlin, ASDM Press