Thursday, July 18, 2013

These are actually real?

The Tarantula Hawk Wasp.

The name says it all!  From what inner circle of hell did this thing ever escape??

Tarantulas are bad.  Hawks are vicious predators.  Wasps are horrible.

All three combined into one?  Sounds like something the team who gave us Sharknado would create!

But it's legit.

If this thing hit our windshield at 70 mph, I might faint.  Or God forbid if it flew in the window!



Apparently if stings and captures tarantulas (hey, that's not so bad I guess).

But then it does this to them (could you imagine a worse fate?)

The female tarantula hawk captures, stings, and paralyzes the spider, then either drags her prey back into her own burrow or transports it to a specially prepared nest, where a single egg is laid on the spider’s abdomen, and the entrance is covered. When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult, and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle. 

Avoiding vital organs to keep its prey alive even longer!  Enters and feeds voraciously?

I never thought I'd feel sorry for a large spider, but I sure wouldn't want that fate.


 It reminds me of a scene from The Mist, where several characters have to enter a drug store and they see soldiers in webs . . . and spiders hatch inside them and attack.

UGH!

At least these tarantula hawk wasps live down south.

Another reason I can tolerate our glorious sub zero winters!

I just have to remember that in January. And February.  And even March some years!


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