Outdoors: Even the scary tarantula can be prey

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”

For a moment I didn’t pay much attention to the large insect buzzing around me.

It was one of those gentle spring days and I was lost in the moment while photographing a colorful cluster of wildflowers while wandering on a mountain trail.

When it dawned on me what this was, however, I quickly stepped back.

The arrival of this large spider wasp with buzzing red wings that can inflict a debilitating, albeit temporary, sting certainly captured my attention.

By coincidence, I had recently watched a video about the tarantula wasp, a large jet-black flying insect that can be as long as 4 inches.

I was fascinated by this questionably sane individual named Coyote Peterson who delights in creating his “Brave Wilderness” series of YouTube videos about painful wild animal stings and bites.

In this video, Peterson allowed himself to be stung on the forearm by North America’s largest species of wasp.

It was not fun.

With the required drama of a Hollywood production, Peterson nervously grasped the wasp with forceps and grimaced as it curled its body and inflicted the sting.

Almost immediately Peterson dropped to the ground, writhing in intense agony, describing it as the worst pain he has ever experienced and losing the ability to move his arm.

His arm remained sore for another day, but the intense pain passed in about five minutes.

Yes, this dramatic video made me cautious, but the good news is, you are unlikely to ever be stung by a tarantula wasp since it’s not aggressive toward humans. It feeds on the nectar of flowers and fruit.

While both male and female tarantula wasps have similar coloration, only the females have stingers.

As you might guess by their name, this wasp preys on tarantulas.

Peterson had to even work a bit to get the female wasp to sting.

But the story of the tarantula wasp, also known as a tarantula hawk, is both fascinating and timely.

Timely because those big, hairy but harmless tarantulas become more visible in the next few weeks as spider-mating season begins and fascinating because of what the male tarantula must go through to survive.

It’s hard to miss a tarantula. It’s harder still to miss several dozen you might spot roaming about in San Diego’s grasslands during September and October.

This is when the males venture out of their burrows just before dark in search of a willing, larger and lesser seen female.

Open meadows and grasslands, like those found at Escondido’s Daley Ranch, Ramona Grasslands, the Hollenbeck Canyon and San Felipe Wildlife areas, and Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve are all places where hikers might encounter male tarantulas.

But the large spiders and colorful wasps are found throughout the county, even in desert areas, so they will be more visible as the male tarantulas venture out looking for love.

This mating excursion for male tarantulas can be an adventure in survival for several reasons, including an attack by a female tarantula wasp or the mating encounter that males may not survive.

Nature can be harsh.

And old friend reminded me recently that, “nothing dies of old age in nature.”

And I expect that’s especially true for male tarantulas. Longevity might also be reflected in the male’s hazardous lifestyle.

Typically, female tarantulas can live 20 to 30 years, while the male’s lifespan is only five to seven years. Their natural predators are frogs and hummingbirds.

The orange to red-winged female tarantula wasps have keen vision and sense of smell that allows them to locate the much larger spiders.

If you see the wasps flying low over the ground or even walking, you will know they are looking for tarantula burrows.

The wasp may attempt to lure the tarantula out by scratching lightly at the silky webbing that lines the inside of the burrow. Thinking this might be an intruder or prey, the tarantula emerges, only to be attacked by the wasp.

The smaller wasp quickly stings the spider, injecting its powerful venom that does not kill but permanently paralyzes it.

The spider is then pulled into a burrow and becomes the host for a single egg deposited by the tarantula wasp.

In three to four days, the wasp larvae hatches and feeds on the spider’s non-vital organs until emerging as an adult wasp in two to three weeks.

If that’s not enough bad luck, the love life of the male tarantula can be even more dramatic.

First, there’s the challenge of finding a willing mate.

If the male tarantula is successful in his amorous pursuits, he may be attacked, killed and eaten by the female, although current research suggests that is not as common as once thought.

Male tarantulas are overjoyed at this good news.

We may wonder about the things that seem like cruelty in nature, but the above quote from Ecclesiastes may offer some insight.

It suggests there are seasons, cycles and rhythms in nature that we don’t fully understand, but they have a purpose.

Spending time in nature offers so much insight for those willing to see.

Cowan is a freelance columnist. Email ernie@packtrain.com or visit erniesoutdoors.blogspot.com.