Tarantula Hawk Wasp
(Adopted 1989)

Spider Wasps. The best known members of this family are the "tarantula hawks" of the Southwest, which reach more than 1 1/2 inches in length and are often strikingly colored in blue-black and rusty red. There are many smaller species throughout the rest of the continent, however. You can often see them on flowers or on the ground, searching for prey. This is mainly spiders, which the wasps paralyze with their sting. The wasps put the prey in burrows in the ground and lay an egg on each spider. The larvae feed on the spider after they emerge. Spider wasps can inflict a powerful sting, but are not aggressive.