The Tarantula Hawk is a terrifying marriage of “The Predator” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Meet the tarantula hawk. Where do I even start with this guy? Last week we talked about bumblebees. These fuzzy buddies share the same order as the tarantula hawk: hymenoptera. The bumblebee might evoke the same feelings as a pleasant lo-fi bop heard in an animated movie credit sequence. The tarantula hawk, on the other hand, is more reminiscent of a death metal song complete with screaming vocals and lyrical references to goat sacrifice. You know, a real pearl-clutcher. These guys are absolutely metal, and I love them for it.

Side note before I get into the nitty gritty – most of my information was derived from a book called The Sting of the Wild. Its a wonderful and educational book written by Justin Schmidt, the guy who created the sting pain index. The book goes far more in depth than I will here, so if you want to learn more, please buy this book.

Lets just start at the beginning with some basic info – the tarantula hawk belongs to a group of wasps known as parasitic wasps. These wasps oftentimes have specialized prey that can range from trees and plants to other insects. Female parasitic wasps are usually (but not always) recognizable by their long ovipositor and needle-thin waist.

A “typical” representation of a parasitic wasp: magarjyssa greenei
photo courtesy: wikipedia

Tarantula hawks are one of the largest wasps, measuring in at about two inches long. Part of the reason why they are so large is that they specialize in preying on tarantulas. Preying on spiders is nothing new, as there are about 5000 species of wasps that also prey on spiders. Preying on tarantulas, however, is a different story. Female tarantula hawks are sometimes two to three times smaller than their prey. They attack the spider with great confidence, and inject their venom into the spider. This paralyzes the tarantula for the rest of their short lives. Then the tarantula hawk drags the much larger tarantula into her burrow and lays an egg inside of it. Female tarantula hawks are one of the few species that can store male sperm until they need it. Therefore, they only mate once in their lives, and use that sperm when they are laying their eggs. Female tarantula hawks determine the sex of their children, which is assigned as she is laying the egg. Males come from unfertilized eggs and are usually assigned smaller tarantulas. Females, however, are fertilized eggs and are assigned the largest tarantulas. It is very rare in the natural world to be able to determine the sex of your children willingly, and this adaptation helps distribute more nutrients to the next generation of females, who will have to do the tarantula hunting. The last thing the adult tarantula hawk does after laying her eggs is bury the still-live tarantula in her burrow, Cask of Amontillado style.

Tarantula hawk attacking its prey.
Photo courtesy: David Crummey

The tarantula then sits in the sealed tomb for a few days as the egg hatches. First, the tarantula hawk larvae burrows into the body of the tarantula and starts eating it from the inside out. It eats in a cleverly thorough manner, elongating the life of its host. It starts with draining its blood, then eating muscle, fat, the digestive system and then finally the reproductive system. The larvae leaves the nervous system and the heart for last. This process lasts for about 20 days. Think of that. The poor tarantula is left alive, being eaten from the inside out, sealed in its own tomb, for 20 days or more. This is not fiction, dear friends, this is not a budget-film horror movie. This is real life, happening every summer, around the world. If you live in the American southwest and like to hike, guess what? You have probably walked over hundreds of underground spider tombs. Anyway, after the last molt, the tarantula hawk larvae finally eat the nervous system and heart, leaving an empty carcass. Then it makes a cocoon and emerges as an adult tarantula hawk. Pretty horrifying, right? Hey, at least its not you… I guess?

Humans are not safe from tarantula hawks. Their sting is well known to be one of the most painful stings on earth. Some have called it electrifying. Others debilitating. Justin O. Shmidt, the man who created the pain index by stinging himself with insects has rated it a 4/4 on the pain scale. For reference, a bee sting is a 2/4. The bullet ant, aptly named because the sting feels like you just got shot, scores the same as the tarantula hawk. To quote Justin Schmidt describing the pain, the sting is “Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has just been dropped into your bubble bath.”. If you get stung by one of these guys, its recommended that you just sit down and ride it out (and scream). The pain is so debilitating and blinding that you might hurt yourself by tripping and falling into something.

Alright, before I send you off into the world with a new and wondrous phobia of wasps, there’s a couple things I should mention. First of all, it is incredibly unlikely that anyone not living in the American Southwest or overseas will see these guys. If you live in the pacific northwest like I do, you’re safe. Secondly, before all one of my homies living in the southwest start packing their bags, the sting is incredibly non-lethal. Its literally only 3% more lethal than a honey bee sting. Yes, it will feel like you are dying an incredibly painful death by electric chair, but that is only temporary. Also you’ll have a great story to tell at parties, so there’s that! Thirdly, there is a lot of weird, and terrifying, and wonderful things in the natural world, but that’s part of the charm of it all. I mean, there’s a reason why Picasso is such a famous artist. There is beauty in our chaotic, terrifying, strange, average, everyday existence. I wouldn’t want it any other way. So go, get outside, go on a walk, enjoy your day. It truly is beautiful out there.