BajaNomad

Stung by a huge flying bug - What was that bug?

BajaWaverunner - 8-23-2011 at 10:38 AM

I was at Punta Final on Sunday afternoon and a large flying bug landed on my beach chair. When I went to brush it off the thing stung me on my thumb so hard that I bled for about 10 minutes. The pain was intense but the bleeding stopped and the pain went away after about 10-15 minutes. The body was about 2-3 inches long and looked like that of a wasp, the head looked similar to that of a praying mantis, and its wings were a browish red color. The thing didn't fly like a wasp - it seemed to be clumsy in the way it flew - similar to the way a beetle flys. Does anyone have any idea what that bug was? If have never had a bug sting cause me to bleed so bad before.

castaway$ - 8-23-2011 at 10:51 AM

Sounds like you were bit not stung, remember- Everything in Baja pokes, pricks, sticks, bites or stings!

DENNIS - 8-23-2011 at 10:56 AM

Chupacabra..........sin duda. :o

jeffg - 8-23-2011 at 10:59 AM

Sounds like a Tarantula Wasp (or Tarantula Hawk).

bigzaggin - 8-23-2011 at 11:21 AM

Tarantula Wasps are Top Ten on the Schmidt Pain Index. Congrats Waverunner, 1 down...9 to go! Call me when you get to Bullet Ant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index

SiReNiTa - 8-23-2011 at 11:31 AM




Is that it??

Here is some info I found on wikipedia :)

A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas as food for its larvae. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis in the family Pompilidae (Spider wasps).
he more familiar species are up to five centimeter (two inches) long with a blue-black body and bright rust-colored wings (other species have black wings with blue highlights), making them among the largest of wasps. The coloring on their wings warns potential predators that they are dangerous (Aposematism). Their long legs have hooked claws for grappling with their victims. The stinger of a female tarantula hawk can be up to 7 mm (1/3 inch) long, and the sting is considered among the most painful insect stings in the world.


Soooo Not dangerous but reaaaally painful!!! Sorry you got stung!

ElCap - 8-23-2011 at 11:39 AM

I've heard locals call them 'toro de uva' - I guess they like the grapevines around San Ignacio. They are big and menacing looking, but don't seem overly aggresive, but I sure wouldn't want to test their bite/sting.

castaway$ - 8-23-2011 at 12:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bigzaggin
Tarantula Wasps are Top Ten on the Schmidt Pain Index. Congrats Waverunner, 1 down...9 to go! Call me when you get to Bullet Ant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index
Apparently that guy has never been stung by a scorpion, it doesn't exactly tickle.:O

Bugman - 8-23-2011 at 03:34 PM

Based on the description it does sound like a tarantula wasp but without the offending creature we may never know..........:cool:

BajaBlanca - 8-23-2011 at 03:44 PM

one flew onto our porch yesterday ... it was loud and clumsy and flew right into a window and then got up and flew off. The bicycle club boys were on the porch and I had a good laugh at them scrambling to get away from it !!! I thought I was a wimp. HAH !

rhintransit - 8-23-2011 at 04:48 PM

tarantula wasp. also known as 'cow killer'
have been stung once. intense pain, and swelling foot to hip (stung on foot), lasted many days.

Neal Johns - 8-23-2011 at 05:38 PM

Yep, a tarantula wasp, you guys have nailed it (or vice versa):lol::lol::lol:
The good news: they are quite non-aggressive, just let them fly around and they will ignore you.

If someone wants to experiment and sit on one, let me know how it works out.:(:(:(

BajaWaverunner - 8-23-2011 at 05:50 PM

The tarantula Wasp is EXACTLY what stung me. Thanks for the photo.

Tarantula Hawk (is what we have called them)

David K - 8-23-2011 at 05:53 PM









On July 4th weekend, 2009... we were slicing a tomato for lunch and this gal cruised right to us and she looked thirsty... and spent a good amount of time sucking up the tomato juices, we just let her take what she wanted and there was never any threat, even with me being inches from her taking pictures... :cool:

Shell Island (usually bug free):o

They don't die easy neither

Dave - 8-23-2011 at 06:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rhintransit
tarantula wasp. also known as 'cow killer'
have been stung once. intense pain, and swelling foot to hip (stung on foot), lasted many days.


Hit one with a rolled up magazine a couple of times. Just got peeed off.

Which is exactly what you don't want.

Sweetwater - 8-24-2011 at 07:54 AM

I am not pleased to hear that somebody got bit by this tough bug........but I am ROFLMA at the pics and responses.......it is threads like this that keep me reading the forum.

I've been imagining what would happen if I hit one of these things at 40-60 mph on my moto....sheeeuuut

:wow:

BajaGringo - 8-24-2011 at 08:51 AM

I was bit on my upper back by one of those many years ago while living in northern Argentina at the time. I literally yelled out loud from the pain it was so bad. A friend who was there with me quickly dragged me down to the river at the back of my property where he reached down to pull up a cold handful of the river bottom mud. He packed the mud in the location of the bite and held it there for about a minute.

It was like a miracle as the pain quickly eased and was completely gone in just a couple of minutes...

David K - 8-24-2011 at 09:36 AM

Bit or stung? Do they do both?

Bugman - 8-24-2011 at 01:25 PM

They don't have much for chompers so it's the sting you need to worry about. When you figure they need to pack enough of a wallop to take down a big tarantula in a hurry the sting is gonna hurt...... a lot! :biggrin:

BajaGringo - 8-24-2011 at 02:20 PM

Bite / sting - who knows? All I can tell you is that it felt like somebody had taken a hot poker out of the fire and drove it into my back...

Doug/Vamonos - 8-30-2011 at 07:03 PM

One of those landed in our camp at Geckos many years ago and scared the crap out of my bugaphobe wife. It is a scary looking little monster when it is 12" in front of you.

Tarantula hawk

tehag - 5-26-2013 at 04:58 PM

Found this dead tarantula hawk today, and since the stinger is plainly visible I dug up this old thread to post the pic. This is the business end of the beast, and they use it to knock a tarantula out very quickly. I've not been stung, but people who have generally say they don't wish to repeat the experience.

Marc - 5-26-2013 at 05:50 PM

i was stung - bit on my ring finger. Hurt like hell and then my lips went numb. Go figure?:?:

Osprey - 5-26-2013 at 06:37 PM

The tarantula hawk feeds on nectar. Down south here we all have a mason jar under the kitchen sink full of guaco and tequila to treat the bite/sting if we get one.

I keep my personal guaco handy for bitaches and avispas which have almost knocked me to my knees a time or two. One daubing with the precious guaco and the pain is gone in seconds.

monoloco - 5-26-2013 at 06:48 PM

They are interesting critters, their sting will anesthetize a tarantula which they will drag into a burrow in the ground and lay their eggs on, later when the eggs hatch the babies will feed off of the tarantula which remains alive. We once rescued a tarantula that I found the tarantula hawk dragging towards it's burrow after having stung the tarantula, we put the spider in a box and it eventually recovered after about two months. Apparently their venom is quite a powerful anesthesia.

monoloco - 5-26-2013 at 06:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
The tarantula hawk feeds on nectar. Down south here we all have a mason jar under the kitchen sink full of guaco and tequila to treat the bite/sting if we get one.

I keep my personal guaco handy for bitaches and avispas which have almost knocked me to my knees a time or two. One daubing with the precious guaco and the pain is gone in seconds.
Osprey, Where do you get the guaco? Is there a local plant named guaco or are you referring to the plant known in South America as guaco? I know that there are numerous vines referred to as guaco and I'd be interested to know the specific plant you have mentioned.

Osprey - 5-27-2013 at 05:16 AM

Mono, I'm not much help with that. I get mine from my Mexican neighbors but when I get it, it is dried leaves and twigs in a baggie. Online the pix I see don't help me much with ID as it looks like every vine I've every encountered. It grows along side the highway on both sides of La Paz but only when things are up and lush after a heavy rain.

After one really bad rain event down here there were over 1000 dengue fever victims in La Paz hospitals and their caregivers wiped out the vines to make them tea when they got home -- must be good stuff because I'm told you could not find a plant anywhere even in the mountains when all those people needed home remedies.

monoloco - 5-27-2013 at 06:43 AM

Thank's Osprey, I'll have to start grilling the locals for more info on guaco.

marv sherrill - 5-27-2013 at 02:26 PM

On the official "sting-o-meter a "torrito" - aka tarantula wasp, is a 4. The scale is 1-4 - 4 being the most painful - there are only 3 # 4 bugs-- one is the tarantula hawk and the other 2 live in Costa Rica. ( a bee is a 2 and a red ant a 3 for comparison)

[Edited on 5-28-2013 by marv sherrill]

durrelllrobert - 5-27-2013 at 07:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tehag
Found this dead tarantula hawk today, and since the stinger is plainly visible I dug up this old thread to post the pic. This is the business end of the beast, and they use it to knock a tarantula out very quickly. I've not been stung, but people who have generally say they don't wish to repeat the experience.



I understand that after they paralyze the tarantula they lay their eggs in the soft abdomen and when the larva hatch they consume the tarantula while it is still alive.

durrelllrobert - 5-27-2013 at 07:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by monoloco
They are interesting critters, their sting will anesthetize a tarantula which they will drag into a burrow in the ground and lay their eggs on, later when the eggs hatch the babies will feed off of the tarantula which remains alive. We once rescued a tarantula that I found the tarantula hawk dragging towards it's burrow after having stung the tarantula, we put the spider in a box and it eventually recovered after about two months. Apparently their venom is quite a powerful anesthesia.


Sorry, I posted the same thing before I scrolled down and saw your reply.

DavidE - 5-28-2013 at 11:00 AM

The movie "alien" supposedly was based on the antics of the tarantula hunter, and of course "molecular acid" to make things more interesting.

The sting of a scorpion feels entirely different in many cases. Like comparing a broken cheekbone to a broken elbow IMHO.

Bajatripper - 5-28-2013 at 02:44 PM

My daughter once had one of these beasts fly into the open car window as we were travelling down the highway and right under the blanket she had over her legs. Even though she was wearing shorts, she coolly managed to keep her composure long enough to flick the bug out the other window without getting stung. Don't know how she did it. Had it been me, we'd have probably piled into a cardon or something while I frantically tried to get it far away from me as quickly as possible.