Tarantula hawk. Macrophotograph of a female tarantula hawk (Pepsis rubra), a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas. Spider wasps are very large solitary
Tarantula hawk. Macrophotograph of a female tarantula hawk (Pepsis rubra), a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas. Spider wasps are very large solitary wasps. They can deliver a powerful sting. Their long legs have hooked claws for grappling with their victims. A female wasp will catch and paralyse a spider, and lay her eggs inside it. Some species will then bury the spider in a burrow, and the emerging larvae feed on the still-living spider. Photographed by the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab: an organisation dedicated to identifying, cataloguing and monitoring bees and other species.
Size: 5002px × 3543px
Photo credit: © US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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