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Spider Wasp from Singapore

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Subject: Insect that Stores Dead Spiders
Location: Singapore
June 3, 2012 1:48 am
Good Day What’s That Bug,
I saw an insect about 1.5 inches in length flying around our house and when I followed it, it went in a corner of a CD rack under our TV.
I took a close look and tried prying off the white thing that the insect visited, hoping it was something hard but it turned out to be very brittle. I was really curious and was hoping I could remove the nest from its location and transfer it on another place but I ended up destroying it. When I took an even closer look, I saw dead spiders in it. I left it alone and saw the insect coming back in its nest and flying away. Only to notice that it was carrying away the spiders. Now, all the spiders are gone and what’s left are the remains of the ’nest’
Signature: Joy

Spider Wasp and Prey

Hi Joy,
This is a Spider Wasp in the family Pompilidae.  The female Spider Wasp stings and paralyzes spiders as food for her brood.  The nest is often constructed of mud.  We are very happy that your Spider Wasp relocated all the prey she spent so much time hunting.  After sealing the spiders in the nest, she will lay a single egg in each nest chamber.  Since the spiders are paralyzed and not dead, they will be a supply of fresh meat for the larvae.  Dead spiders would quickly dry out and not be an attractive food for the larva.  Here is a link to a Spider Wasp from Singapore that we found in our archives.

Spider Wasp with Prey

Hi,
Thanks for the reply Daniel. I’ve been seeing another insect that looks like a spider wasp flying around the house at the same time when I found the wasp in the pictures I sent. It looks smaller than the one I found. Aside from the high pain index in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_wasp#Schmidt_Pain_Index), should I be alarmed with their presence?
Thank you,
Joy

Spider Wasps are not aggressive towards humans, but they might sting if carelessly handled.  The Tarantula Hawks are reputed to have very painful stings, but again, they are not aggressive toward humans.

 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Possibly Spider Wasp and Possibly Orbweaver: Food Chain from Congo

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Wasp hovering over paralyzed spider
Location: Kisantu, Congo
May 14, 2012 2:24 pm
Dear Bugman,
We found a wasp guarding a spider that was upside down and looked dead. Did this wasp attack the spider and can you tell us was species they are ?
Signature: Katy and her dad

Probably Spider Wasp and Orbweaver

Dear Katy and her dad,
The behavior you describe is very consistent with that of a Spider Wasp in the family Pompilidae.  Spider Wasps prey upon spiders not to eat, but to provide food for their young.  A female Spider Wasps stings the spider and paralyzes it, but doesn’t kill it.  That way the spider remains alive and fresh and provides a living meal for the developing wasp larva.  Spider Wasps are often very family specific when it comes to their prey.  Your was appears to be a Spider Wasp, and the description on BugGuide includes:  “Typically dark colored with smoky or yellowish wings; a few are brightly colored.  Slender with long and spiny legs, hind femora typically extending beyond tip of abdomen.”  These are characteristics of the wasp in your photo.  Based on the eye pattern which is pictured here on BugGuide, we believe your spider is an Orbweaver in the family Araneidae.  Exact species identifications are not possible at this time.

Probably Orbweaver

Thanks so much Bugman!!  We are glad that there are no giant wasps that can do that to us !

 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Probably Spider Wasp from Australia

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butter-bee
Location: melbourne, australia
March 7, 2012 6:47 am
I suspect a butterfly and bee cross bred to create a beautiful mutant..i am however no expert. I found it on my car and got as close as i could to take a photograph without it noticing me.
Signature: brittany

Possibly Wasp Moth

Dear Brittany,
We wish you photo showed more details. At first we thought that this was a Wasp Moth or Clearwing in the family Sesiidae, that mimic stinging wasps for protection, but now we believe this really is a Spider Wasp, Cryptocheilus bicolor, a species that preys upon Huntsman Spiders. 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spider Wasp and Huntsman Spider Prey hit with Broom in Australia

On · Category: Huntsman Spiders and Giant Crab Spiders, spider wasps Tagged With: , · Add Comment

wasp
Location: melbourne, australia
December 18, 2011 6:42 am
This huge ie 4-5 cm wasp was dragging huntsman spider up the window. Spider still seemed alive
I live in Melbourne, Australia and it is December-beginning of Summer.
Wasp not aggressive to me, BUT NOT HAPPY when I hit it with a broom. It dropped twitching spider & flew off!
Signature: Dom

Spider Wasp and Huntsman Spider Prey

Dear Dom,
We have several excellent images of Australian Spider Wasps with Huntsman Spider prey in our archives.  The female Spider Wasp stings and paralyzes the Spider and then drags it back to her burrow to act as food for her brood.  The adult wasps feed on nectar.  We can imagine that it is a difficult task for the female Spider Wasp to locate her prey, sting it and then begin the long haul back to her burrow, and it is quite unfortunate that your broom hitting incident interrupted her task.  We hope that now that you are better informed, you will allow these food chain dramas to play out without unnecessary interventions in the future.

 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider

On · Category: Huntsman Spiders and Giant Crab Spiders, spider wasps Tagged With: , · Add Comment

Deceased huntsman spider with unknown wasp
Location: Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, about 1km away from the pacific ocean.
November 13, 2011 11:45 pm
Hey, I got these series of pictures and this video outside on a warm summers day, on the 14th November, 2011. A warm summer summer in November must mean the southern hemisphere, indeed this image is taken on the eastern suburbs, in Sydney, Australia, about 1km away from the ocean.
Im fairly sure the spider is an huntsman spider but I do not know about the wasp. Does it normally prey on spiders and other large insects ? Where does it nest, and does it pose a threat to humans ?
(I live with my grandparents, and to say they are squeamish about insects is an understatement)
EDIT : I realized that the wasp has been featured previously on this site, however, I shall share these high resolution (if you think they are) images of what I found. I also catch huntsman spiders inside my home and release them too. I shall attach those too, if you wish to share them.
I hope you find the images to be of reasonable quality and I hope they will be useful for your site. You may repost/embed the video to your site too, if you wish.
Signature: Sufyan

Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider

Hi Sufyan,
We actually have this particular Food Chain drama posted to our website several times including this recent posting of a Spider Wasp and its Huntsman Spider prey.  We believe the Spider Wasp is Cryptocheilus bicolor, but we do not feel confident trying to identify the Huntsman Spider to the species lever because there are so many Huntsman Spiders in Australia.

Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider

Spider Wasps are solitary wasps, and a female provisions the nest with paralyzed spiders for her brood.  The adult Spider Wasps feed upon pollen, and only the larval wasps are carnivores, but they are unable to hunt for themselves.  It is important to realize that this Huntsman Spider is paralyzed, not dead.  A dead spider would soon dry out, making it an unacceptable food for the larvae.  By paralyzing the Huntsman Spider, the living spider supplies the larval wasp with fresh meat.  The larva feeds upon non-vital meat first so that the spider is literally eaten alive.  Since the nest is underground and we have received so many images of this particular Spider Wasp scaling walls while dragging a large paralyzed Huntsman Spider, we have deduced that the Spider Wasp is unable to take off from the ground with such a heavy payload, but by climbing to gain altitude, it is able to fly or glide towards its burrow with the heavy Spider in tow.  Spider Wasps are not aggressive, though we suspect they may sting if provoked or carelessly handled.

Spider Wasp preys upon Huntsman Spider

 

 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spider Wasp

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Insect in New Mexico Garden
Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA
September 4, 2011 5:06 pm
Wondering what this creature is – it is about 1.5-2 inches in length and was crawling in the sand/clay near a low stone wall in my back yard. It spread its wings briefly but not again before disappearing into the stones so I didn’t get a picture of the wingspread. Thanks for your help!
Signature: mnchilemom

Spider Wasp

Dear mnchilemom,
You had an encounter with a Spider Wasp in the family Pompilidae, and we believe it is in the tribe Pepsini, a group that includes the Tarantula Hawks.  You may browse through the possibilities on BugGuide.

Thank you so much! I look forward to reading your book on my iPad!

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Tarantula Hawk

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Giant Winged Ant?
Location: El Cajon, CA 92021
September 1, 2011 11:23 am
It looked like a giant ant. It was approximately 2 inches long with a green body that was segmented like an ant and it had brown wings.
The climate when I saw the bug was over cast and cool. It was between 8-9 am. Between 62-70 degrees. It’s generally very hot in this area of San Diego but it’s a very mild morning. It was in the grass and then on a tree (palm).
Hope you can figure it out and let me know because I’m facsinated to know…
Signature: Thanks!

Tarantula Hawk

We really wish we had seen this magnificent Tarantula Hawk, Numero Uno on our Big 5 list of Bugs that really know how to defend themselves around silly humans.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spider Wasp attacks Wolf Spider

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Some sort of spider wasp
Location: Bel Air, Maryland, U.S.A.
August 20, 2011 6:14 pm
I was coming back to the house from the garden. I walked around the corner and noticed a wasp fly up and away from a spider. I got to the door and it returned to the spider. I grabbed the camera and tried to get a couple shots. I couldn’t get very close without it flying off. So I snapped a picture from as close as I could get. The spider is pretty large, just slightly smaller than a quarter.
It was about 4 p.m. on August 20 near Bel Air, Maryland. Temperature was about 88F and it was rather humid since we’ve been having thunder storms pretty much ever evening.
I have a larger photo if it will help.
Signature: Greg in Maryland

Spider Wasp attacks Wolf Spider

Dear Greg,
We are very happy to be posting your thrilling photo to our Food Chain page.  You are correct that this is a Spider Wasp.  We have identified it as Tachypompilus ferrugineus based on photos posted to BugGuide.  Though the curled position of the spider does not permit us to be certain of its identity, we thought it must be either a Wolf Spider or a Funnel Web Spider, but the genus page for Tachypompilus on BugGuide indicates:  “Females provision nests mainly with Lycosids.”  That would indicate that the spider in your photo is a Wolf Spider.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination