ts tarantulas as food for it larvae. Up to two inches long with a blue-black body and bright rust-colored wings, tarantula hawks are among the largest of wasps. The coloring on their wings warns potential predators that they are dangerous (Aposematism). Their long legs have hooked claws for grappling with their victims. The stinger of a female tarantula hawk can be up to 1/3 inch long, and delivers a sting which is rated among the most painful in the insect world.
During the spiders’ reproductive season male tarantulas are usually emaciated from ignoring food while searching for females. The tarantula hawks thus prefer female tarantulas and seek them in their burrows. The females capture, sting, and paralyze the spider, Then they either drag the spider back into her own burrow or transport their prey to a specially prepared nest where a single egg is deposited on the spider’s body, and the entrance is covered. The wasp larva, upon hatching, begins to suck the juices from the still-living spider. After the larva grows a bit, it plunges into the spider's body and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it fresh. After completing pupation the adult wasp emerges from the nest. Tarantula wasps feed primarily on nectar and other natural sugary materials. The consumption of fermented fruit sometimes intoxicates them to the point that flight becomes difficult. While the wasps tend to be most active in daytime summer months, they avoid the very highest temperatures. The male tarantula hawk does not hunt; instead, it feeds off the flowers of milkweeds, western soapberry trees, or mesquite trees. The male tarantula hawk has a behavior called "hill-topping", where he sits atop tall plants and watches for females that are ready to reproduce.
Tarantula Hawk Dragging Prey to Nest and Feeding on Milkweed Nectar. Image Courtesy of Astrobradley (left) and Davehood (right).
The tarantula hawk is relatively docile and rarely stings without provocation. The sting, particularly of Pepsis formosa, is among the most painful of any insect, but the intense pain only lasts for about 3 minutes.[ Commenting on his own experience, one researcher described the pain as "…immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations”. In terms of scale, the wasp's sting is rated near the top of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, second only to that of the bullet ant and is described by Schmidt as "blinding, fierce [and] shockingly electric". Because of their extremely large stingers, very few animals are able to eat them; one of the few animals that can is the roadrunner.
The U.S. State of New Mexico chose the insect in 1989 to become its official state insect. The selection of the insect was prompted by a group of Edgewood, New Mexico, elementary school children doing research on states which had adopted state insects. They selected three insects as candidates, and mailed ballots to all schools for a state wide election. The winner was the Tarantula Hawk Wasp (specifically, Pepsis formosa).
The RQ-16 T-Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has been named after the Tarantula Hawk.
Gall Wasps-Cynipidae. These tiny wasps are also called gallflies with about 1300 species worldwide. As indicated they are generally very small creature (1-8 millimeters).
The reproduction of the gall wasp is partly pure two-sex propagation and partly pure parthenogenesis, in which a male is completely unnecessary. With most species, however, there is an alternation of generations with one two-sex generation and one parthenogenic generation annually.
The plant galls mostly develop directly after the female insect lays the eggs. The reason for gall formation is largely unknown but is a result of the present of the developing gall insect; it is speculated that chemical, mechanical and viruses triggers the process. The hatching larvae feed within the tissue of the galls and are also well-protected from external environmental effects. The host plants and the si