Arthropods 4

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Southern California Arthropods #4: Bees & Wasps

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Spider Wasp Family (Pompilidae)

An adult tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis).

The tarantula hawk is a large, hard-bodied wasp that actually attacks a kills tarantulas (Aphonopelma) in southern California. The female wasp stings the tarantula on the underside between the legs, in a vulnerable unprotected area. With her powerful mandibles, she drags the paralyzed tarantula to her burrow and lays a single egg on its body. The egg hatches into a larva which feeds on the tarantula. At maturity, the larva spins a cocoon and undergoes metamorphosis. The adult wasp may emerge from the burrow during the same year or the following spring, depending on when the cocoon was spun. The sting of a female tarantula hawk is described as "excruciating." Females have conspicuously coiled antennae, as shown in this photo.

Paper Wasps (Family Vespidae)

A yellow jacket (Vespula pensylvanica).

This wasp is about 14 mm long, roughly the size of a honeybee. Like a honeybee, it packs a powerful sting, but unlike a honeybee it can sting repeatedly. [Barbs on the honeybee's stinger catch in human skin. The stinger and connected organs remain in the elastic skin when the bee pulls away, a fatal injury to the bee.] Yellow jackets live in colonies up to 15,000 individuals, which are differentiated into haploid males, the diploid queen, and diploid female workers. Like the paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus), the nest is made from a mixture of saliva and chewed fibers from dead wood, resembling papier-mâché. Yellow jackets are very fond of meat and fruit. Their appetite and painful sting make them a serious nuisance to picknickers. In addition, yellow jackets can be quite aggressive if their nest is disturbed.

A paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus).

  See The Nest Of A Paper Wasp  

Ant Family (Formicidae)

A carpenter ant worker (Camponotus sp.) in the chaparral of San Diego County. This is a large California ant up to 10 mm in length. It burrows into rotten wood to build its nest. In southern California it commonly builds nests in the ground. Another all black species (C. laevigatus) is found in coniferous logs at higher elevations in the mountains.

References:

  1. Evans, A.V. 2007. Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, New York.

  2. Hogue, C.L. 1993. Insects of the Los Angeles Basin. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

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