The Tarantula Hawk: A Tarantula's Worst Nightmare

By Anonymous -

 Have you ever wondered what a tarantula fears? Well look no further than the dreaded Tarantula Hawk.


Imagine a peaceful tarantula, cozying up in its burrow for the day to rest after a successful hunt. The female Tarantula Hawk (aka Pepsis wasp) will sniff this poor arachnid out and break right into its nest. Now provoked, the wasp and the tarantula standoff against each other since they are nearly the same size. The tarantula doesn’t stand a chance.


Using her hooked claws, the wasp will grapple the tarantula, flip it over, and deliver a powerful sting, paralyzing the tarantula for the rest of its (unfortunately) long life. 



Once the tarantula is paralyzed, the Pepsis wasp will drag the spider back into the burrow it was expelled from, and lay a single egg on its abdomen. The entrance is sealed behind the wasp, leaving the tarantula to languish in its new burial vault. 


See, the tarantula is alive for this entire process. In fact, it will stay alive, though paralyzed, until the egg hatches, and begins to feed. And feed. 


The grub is initially attached to the outside and will feed externally on the tarantula through to its penultimate instar, where it will then delve into the spider’s abdomen and begin feeding “voraciously.” However, this is not the end for this tarantula, oh no. The larva will avoid vital internal organs in order to prolong the arachnid’s life for as long as possible, lasting as long as several weeks. 


Finally, the wasp fully matures and will emerge in order to repeat the cycle. 


If that weren’t frightening enough, this is one of the largest parasitic wasps in the world, at two inches long. In addition to this, Pepsis wasps are known to have one of the most painful stings in the world. One biologist said “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.”


On the bright side, the sting does not do more than hurt, and only does so for a few minutes. The biggest threat that you would face is a potential allergic reaction. The sting rates a 38 on the lethal capacity scale, compared to a honeybee’s 54. You would not even need medical attention, though you may wish you had died instead for that brief time. 



Because of their severe sting, Pepsis wasps do not have many predators, though roadrunners ignore the danger and dive right in for an extra large meal. Roadrunners are known to also eat rattlesnakes, though, so they’re used to the danger. 


I remember taking walks in southern Arizona where I grew up and seeing these monster wasps, which is the most frightening part of this. Everytime I hear about one of these insects, they’re usually somewhere in the tropics that I can safely avoid. This time, though, it was right in my backyard. Literally.


If you are not a resident of the Sonoran Desert where these wasps are found, don’t relax just yet. There are members of the spider wasp family found broadly across the Americas, with over 250 species found in South America alone. 


On a lighter note, these wasps are generally solitary, so you will likely never encounter more than one at any given time. They also are nectivorous, so no worries about them coming after you. Tarantula Hawks will sometimes even eat fermenting fruit and become flight challenged,  which helps to diminish their frightening reputation.


All in all, they are an extremely fascinating insect. New Mexico certainly thought so, since the Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis grossa) is their state insect. 



Genus pepsis—Tarantula-hawk wasps. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2022, from https://bugguide.net/node/view/3920

Pepsis wasp fact sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2022, from https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Pepsis%20Wasp.php

Phillips, S. J., Comus, P. W., & Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Tucson, A. ). (2000). A natural history of the Sonoran Desert. Tucson : Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press ; Berkeley : University of California Press. http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00ariz

Tarantula Hawk—Photos—Video—DesertUSA. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2022, from https://www.desertusa.com/insects/tarantula-hawks.html


Image 1: https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.fd8c2f27bd80181b975222b57b18ce7d?rik=H6f8KyS7gnw95w&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.interinsects.com%2fimages%2f16306b.jpg&ehk=UCiAvF1vaz7bhbJIpT0qFWlBddGmNts4uxOM7k6oxJI%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Image 2: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4101/4812518790_82e21de527_z.jpg


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