79: Tarantula Hawks

I write to you from Arapahoe, Ute, and Cheyenne land. I am interested in learning about the different animals that live in the place where I was born. Before we start with today’s animal, I want to emphasize that biological classification as understood by western society has its roots in racism, sexism, and transphobia – here’s a good explainer about why.

You know how usually when there’s an animal who people think of as dangerous, when I write about it, I tell you to chill out and not worry?

“One researcher described the pain as "...immediate, excruciating, unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations." In terms of scale, the wasp's sting is rated near the top of the Schmidt sting pain index, second only to that of the bullet ant, and is described by Schmidt as "blinding, fierce[, and] shockingly electric".

The good news is that tarantula hawks, of which six species live in Colorado, rarely sting without provocation. So don’t annoy them! Despite their name, they are neither arachnid nor raptor, but instead a type of wasp who, on the female, can have a stinger up to 7mm in length! They use this stinger to paralyze tarantulas, drag them back to their nest, lay a single egg in their abdomen, and then seal them up inside their burrow. Once the egg hatches, the larvae feeds upon the tarantula – avoiding major organs to keep it alive for as long as possible – until it pupates into an adult wasp. Tarantulas’ only defense against this is to run – if caught, they will not escape their fate. The only animal known to be able to attack a tarantula hawk and come out on top is the roadrunner, which can eat the insects (they’re one of my favorite birds and we will be reading about them later!).

You can read a much more detailed, gruesome description of this behavior here.

Despite their fearsome tarantula stalking habits, tarantula wasps are nectivorous.

Two more interesting things:

1.       Usually the most painful stings belong to social insects who have large nests to defend, but the tarantula hawk is a fairly solitary animal. One thought for why their sting is so bad is because they spend a lot of time out in the open while hunting (if female) or while sitting atop a hill looking for potential mates (if male), exposed to potential predators.

2.       In the course of reading about tarantula hawks, I learned that arthropods do not have blood – they have hemolymph, a fluid plasma that does not carry oxygen.

I wanted to close with an update on animal #53, the Black Footed Ferret – the most endangered mammal in North America – one of them decided to go investigate a homeowner’s garage in Pueblo. Lots of cute videos of these little scamps to be found here.