image credit: bugman123.com
image credit: gravityh.comHabitat: India to Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas
Just look at that thing!! The Tarantula Hawk wasp is a freaky looking devil that, luckily, is pretty much found everywhere! Yippee! As one of the largest wasps in the world, it only seems right that it should hunt – yep, you guessed it – Tarantulas. The stinger of a female can be up to 7 mm long and delivers one of the most painful stings in the insect world.
Want to know just exactly what they do to their prey? Well… since you asked…
Tarantula hawks will find a juicy female tarantula and proceed to paralyze the spider then drag it back to its burrow. A single egg is laid upon the tarantula and the entrance to the burrow is sealed, basically trapping the spider with the carnivorous larva. Once it hatches, the larva digs into the spider, voraciously feeding on it from the inside out while avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it “fresh.” After it’s done, the adult wasp will emerge from the burrow ready to repeat the gruesome cycle.
How absolutely what the %$@! is that?!!?
