elgatoloco
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Hemipepsis spp.
My favorite Baja insect.
Tarantula Hawk.
When I was a kid there would be years in our campo when the tarantula population would explode. At night we would put a kerosene lamp in the road in
front of the house and come back a bit later and it would be surrounded by 5-6-7-8-10 tarantulas. We would put them on a string and walk them thru
camp the next day to impress (scare) the girly girls. In the next months the population of a BIG shiny black flying bug with bright orange/red wings
would also explode. At the time I had no idea that the two events were connected. The Tarantula Hawks would slowly and what seemed awkwardly fly into
a group of people casually sitting on the porch enjoying the ocean view and everyone would leap out of there chairs and vacate the area. I was
fascinated by these bugs. One particularly bountiful year I collected 10-12 and made a hanging mobile out of them to compete in the 'driftwood' mobile
contest my mother had organized for the kids in the campo. My mom was the unofficial contest director, she had a sand castle building contest every
summer and a seashell decorating contest and a beach glass mosaic contest and kite flying contest and more, I think I got DQ'd from the contest
because I did not use driftwood but I freaked out a few of the girlie girls and I'm sure one was impressed enough that five years later she was
somewhat eager to go with me on that moonless night to the bluff outside camp to watch the submarine races and the next thing you know.........oops I
digress.
So the deal with the Tarantula Hawk is that it has one of the most interesting methods of reproducing. When it is ready to lay its eggs it finds a
tarantula and stings it, paralyzing it, drags it into its burrow and lays the eggs, the larvae hatch and eat the tarantula while it's alive! COOL!
The deal is no Tarantulas, no Tarantula Hawks. So next time you come across a tarantula in Baja let it go on its way so it may soon become a nice meal
for some larvae!
You can read all about the Tarantula Hawk and see photos by going to google and typing in Tarantula Wasp
Zoe, was this the insect you saw when you attended that wedding??
Have Fun!
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Baja Bernie
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Elgatoloco
An onion by any other name is El Matto. This is but one more layer on a very Intriguing human being.
Great post. Is that mobile still hanging around?
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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zforbes
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Tarantula Hawk
| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
My favorite Baja insect.
The deal is no Tarantulas, no Tarantula Hawks. So next time you come across a tarantula in Baja let it go on its way so it may soon become a nice meal
for some larvae!
You can read all about the Tarantula Hawk and see photos by going to google and typing in Tarantula Wasp
Zoe, was this the insect you saw when you attended that wedding??
Have Fun! |
Oh, yes, I think it is. The wings were black, like the body, but it was withwith two other large insects with orange wings. They looked fatter
(wider wings when folded at rest), but I couldn't see their bodies, and I was worried about keeping an eye on three big flying insects at once. I
wondered at the time why two different looking insects would get that close to each other, but now I'm thinking that maybe I saw both male &
female. That image has stayed with me for months. I suppose there may have been tarantulas under that bush, then....hmm. Last time I saw tarantulas en
masse they were crossing the road between the groves on the Cal Poly Pomona campus. That sight has also stuck with me. I can see why girly girls would
eek and shriek! My hair was standing on end as I crept closer and closer for a better look! Thanks for the clue.
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elgatoloco
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Bernie
That particular artistic item did not have the 'shelf' life of some of my others, the abalone shell ash tray, the clam shell ash tray, the beach rock
shaped like a heart, the beach rock with the profile of Churchill or countless others. There may be photographic evidence of it in the archives.
Zoe
Should have come out at night and looked for the tarantulas! Be careful around the tarantula wasps. They have the most painful sting of any of the
wasps. They are not agressive and that's a good thing.
Did'nt you just LOVE the view from the big pink house!!!
I wish I would have bought that thing!
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Bob H
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
Tarantula Hawk.
So the deal with the Tarantula Hawk is that it has one of the most interesting methods of reproducing. When it is ready to lay its eggs it finds a
tarantula and stings it, paralyzing it, drags it into its burrow and lays the eggs, the larvae hatch and eat the tarantula while it's alive! COOL!
The deal is no Tarantulas, no Tarantula Hawks. |
This is very interesting stuff. Stuff that many of us had no idea happens in this world. But, now becomes stuff that fills our brains. Mine has now
overflowed!
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Baja Bernie
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Elgatoloco
I believe that you had a very loving and thoughtful mother and that she imparted, at least, some of your love of life--and Baja-- to her son.
Churchill on a rock! Pretty good teaching devise.
Baja is blessed with a soul such as yours and your helpmate adds a bunch to it.
Please do not blush because on an other post about Baja I warned everyone that I was a loving and caring guy.
Also my mind seldom overloads--but my fingers do have a mind of there own--they just don't fit these damn little keyboards.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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jrbaja
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More on bugs
I highly recommend seeing a documentary titled "Microsmos". One of the most entertaining and enlightening movies ever!!
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tehag
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tarantula hawk
Tarantula Hawk, Loreto, BSC
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bajalera
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Although your mom sounds like a great lady, you were clearly the kind of nasty little boy who scared me with spiders. But I'll gladly contribute to a
fund for preserving the tarantula hawk.
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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Baja Bernie
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Lera
Have you met this smiling Baja giant????
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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El Camote
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More bugs...
Matt, great story and information! I'm sure you've got a lot more in you from your many years of trips to Baja and I'd sure love to read them!
Question: Several years ago on a very hot, dry day in early May, I was staying at the San Felipe house. I went for a walk towards the south and
noticed a literal army of similar looking bugs marching towards the north and eating everything green in sight. They looked about the same size, had
lighter yellow-colored wings and could fly but mostly marched so they could munch as they went.
Within a short period, they made their way to the house as I was furiously attaching weatherstripping to the bottom of the screen doors to keep them
out. It was like a bad horror movie as they were trying to get in as I put in the last screws and there were a TON of them.
Within a few hours the swarm had moved on like they were never there. And I've never seen them since! Anyone have any ideas what they were? Aliens
maybe?! 
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jrbaja
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Sounds like the Tequila
that comes in a beehive bottle!
And, the movie is Micro Cosmos, not what I said before.
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El Camote
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Sticking to my story
JR, I had to think back because it was a hot day and the Ballenas tend to slide down like slippery fish. 
But it was too early in the day and there were many bug cadavers left behind in the aftermath from the foolish ones who challenged my authority!!
 :moon:
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jrbaja
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Just teasing Camote. Wev'e seen similar trails of attackers but have no idea
what they are. There are also some similar ones in that movie.
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