Subject: Tarantula Hawk
Geographic location of the bug: Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California
Date: 08/01/2019
Time: 10:26 AM EDT
Daniel was out working in the yard when he spotted a large, metallic green wasp well over 1 1/2 inches in length. Alas, there was no camera handy and the wasp quickly flew off after running on the ground for a few seconds with an agitated style and its wings quivering. Upon some research, and comparing images on The Natural History of Orange County and on BugGuide, Daniel believes it was a Tarantula Hawk, possibly Pepsis mexicana, and that is why this image from our archives is being used to illustrate this new posting.