Tarantula Hawks

Tarantula Hawks
-(Shocking Nature News)-

Several species of the wasps known as "tarantula hawks" inhabit the desert lands of the southwest.

They of course eat Tarantulas. Tarantula hawk stings are considered to be the most painful of any North American insect. Christopher Starr wrote an article entitled, "A Pain Scale for Bee, Wasp and Ant Stings." On a scale of one to four, Pepsis formosa was one of only two insects to rate a four.

One researcher described the tarantula hawk’s sting this way: "To me, the pain is like an electric wand that hits you, inducing an 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.

Taken from http://bizarrecreatures.blogspot.com/