第 0981 号，共 1 402 张

Tarantula hawk

Pepsis grossa

名字的由来： The wasps are named after their prey: they hunt tarantula spiders, which gives them the name tarantula hawk.1

只是会疼会疼，但不会对你造成严重伤害。

蜜蜂、胡蜂和大黄蜂

蜇伤吃：肉

对人的危险: 很疼可能真的很疼，但几乎从不严重。

The tarantula hawk is a very large wasp that hunts tarantulas, which are big hairy spiders. It lives from the southern United States through Mexico and Central America to northern South America, and also on the Caribbean islands. Its sting is among the most painful of any insect.1

生活在

Southern United States (as far north as Kansas), Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean1

北美洲, 南美洲

首页

Females hunt low over the ground, mainly around dusk and dawn to avoid the strong daytime sun. They look for spider burrows, using sight or scent, and may enter them to find prey.1

长度

2.4 cm到5.1 cm (0.9 in到2 in)1

最高速度

约 45 公里/小时（28 英里/小时）

飞行, 粗略估计

它吃什么？

Adults hunt tarantulas, almost always from the Theraphosidae family. The wasp stings the spider to paralyse it, and the wasp's larva then eats the paralysed spider.1

Tarantula hawk的照片 — Tarantula hawk。照片：Niklas299。 CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

怎样认出它

Black and orange colours, with several colour forms: an orange-winged form, a black-winged form, and in northern South America a form with a dark wing base, dark amber patches and a pale wing tip1
Females are 30–51 mm long; males are 24–40 mm long1
Jerky movements and a strong odour1
Males have 12 antennal segments, which separates them from other Pepsis species, which have 131

常被误认为： The black-winged form is hard to tell apart from Pepsis mexicana, but that species is always noticeably smaller. The robber fly Wyliea mydas copies the tarantula hawk's black body and bright orange wings, and makes stinging movements, but it cannot sting.1

毒液之力

蜇伤

毒液通过蜇刺出来。

它的毒液会造成什么？

Tarantula hawks produce large amounts of venom. A sting causes immediate, intense pain that is short-lived, and it is among the greatest pain recorded for any stinging insect. The venom itself is not very toxic, so its defence works almost entirely through pain.1

它对人有多危险？

对人的危险: 很疼可能真的很疼，但几乎从不严重。

Only females can sting. The sting is considered the second most painful of any insect sting, scoring 4.0 on the Schmidt sting pain index, compared with 4.0+ for the bullet ant.1

它害怕时会做什么？

Its black and orange colours, jerky behaviour and strong odour warn predators that it can sting.1

如果它蜇人

刮掉蜜蜂的蜇针，冷敷患处。
如果这个人呼吸困难、脸或喉咙肿胀，或感觉要晕倒，这是过敏急症：拨打急救电话，如果他们有肾上腺素笔就使用。

一定先拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）。这里是一般急救指导，不是医疗建议。急救基础

注意安全

永远不要摸、抓或逗弄野生动物，即使是很小的，即使它看起来在睡觉或已经死了。
给它留出空间。如果遇到它，保持冷静，慢慢后退，让它走自己的路。
如果被它蜇了：保持冷静，保持不动，拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）或尽快去医院。记住它长什么样，拍张照片会有帮助。

它不是冲着你来的。它用毒液捕猎或保护自己，而且它更愿意躲起来。更多安全知识

在世界哪里？

非洲亚洲欧洲北美洲南美洲澳大利亚和大洋洲

它有多大？

它有多长？

比你的小指还短8.4 秒就能飞过一整个足球场

Tarantula hawk和你比起来有多大？

只是在你的浏览器里算一算。什么都不会被保存或发送到任何地方。

它有多快？

一个全力冲刺的人 约 37 公里/小时 (23 mph)

Tarantula hawk 约 45 公里/小时 (28 mph)

一辆在城里开的汽车 约 50 公里/小时 (31 mph)

值得了解

事实

The female chooses the spider's size and sex for her eggs. Fertilised eggs go on large spiders and become females, and unfertilised eggs go on male spiders and become males.1

Roadrunners sometimes steal the tarantula from a wasp and leave the wasp unharmed. Others beat the wasp against the ground before eating it.1

The tarantula hawk is the state insect of New Mexico. Almost 10,000 schoolchildren voted for it, and it was made official by a law signed in 1989.1

Wasps of the genus Pepsis are important pollinators of milkweeds, which are poisonous to grazing livestock.1

谣言粉碎机

谣言： The tarantula hawk's sting is dangerous mainly because its venom is strongly poisonous.

真相： The venom itself is not very toxic. Its main defence is the intense pain of the sting.1

给毒液专家

学名: Pepsis grossa
类别: 蜜蜂、胡蜂和大黄蜂
家人: Pompilidae2
排序: Hymenoptera
大洲: 北美洲, 南美洲
宝宝: The female lays a single egg on a paralysed spider and seals it in a chamber, and the larva eats the spider.1
对人的危险: 2 / 5: 很疼3