Rusty spider wasp
The rusty spider wasp is a reddish-brown wasp with shiny violet-blue wings. As its name says, it is a spider hunter. The mother catches big wolf spiders and drags them home to feed her baby.
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Fun facts
The mother drags a spider much bigger than herself along the ground, walking backwards.
She digs a small hole in dry, dusty soil, puts the spider in, lays one egg on it and covers it up.
Then she hides the nest by scattering little bits of leaves and twigs on top.
Males like to sit high on a stone and chase away other males.
At night and in the rain, several wasps may squeeze together into the same little crack to shelter.
Most asked questions about Rusty spider wasp
?What does the rusty spider wasp eat?
The adults drink nectar. Their larvae eat spiders that the mother catches, mostly wolf spiders.
?How big is the rusty spider wasp?
Its body is about 15 to 25 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tachypompilus ferrugineus
- Named by
- Say
- Group
- Wasps and hornets
- Family
- Pompilidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Pompilidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Red-tailed spider hunter, Red-tailed spider wasp
Where the facts come from
- Tachypompilus ferrugineus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by unknown author. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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