One of the biggest privileges for us as guides at Londolozi is getting to meet incredible guests from around the world. Spending upwards of seven hours a day together, and making lifelong memories usually leads us to all form a unique and genuine connection. Each guest I have connected with has taught me something completely different, and usually, in a field, I have little to no knowledge of. But that’s the beauty. We are all learning from each other in the presence of nature – the greatest teacher of all.
On a recent drive, this is exactly what happened. Having two qualified doctors on the vehicle, tracker Ray Mabilane and I were more than keen to share our knowledge (his far more practical than mine) on the medical uses of plants, and hear the guests’ more modern, scientific understanding of the effects. We had stopped the vehicle and were talking about the numbing effects of a sliver cluster leaf tree when a loud and distinctive rattle came from something that flew past our heads.
Spiders may seem formidable with their venomous bites and strong webs, but they have some powerful natural predators – wasps. There are many species of wasps that specialize in catching and eating spiders. This provides an essential source of protein for developing wasp larvae.
How Do Wasps Catch and Eat Spiders?
Most wasps that eat spiders are solitary insects that hunt alone. The female wasp will sting and paralyze a spider, then drag it back to her nest. She does not kill the spider right away, but uses her venom to paralyze it for transport.
Once at the nest, the wasp will lay an egg on the still-living spider. When the egg hatches, the wasp larva will use the paralyzed spider as its food source, eating it alive. The venom prevents the spider from fighting back or decaying before the larva finishes developing.
Some wasps build mud nests with multiple chambers, each containing a paralyzed spider and egg. Other species use existing holes and cavities as nesting sites. The adult wasps never actually eat the spiders themselves, as they subsist on nectar.
21 Species of Wasps Known to Eat Spiders
There are many different wasp species around the world that prey on spiders. Here are 21 of the most notable:
1. Spider Wasps
Spider wasps or pompilid wasps (family Pompilidae) are specialists when it comes to eating spiders. There are over 5000 species of spider wasps, and most of them use their venom to paralyze spiders before dragging them to their nests. Some are ectoparasites that feed externally on living spiders.
2. Tarantula Hawks
The tarantula hawk is a large spider wasp that preys on tarantulas It is able to paralyze the much larger tarantula using its potent sting, The wasp drags the tarantula back into its own burrow before laying an egg on it
3. Mud Dauber Wasps
Mud dauber wasps are found worldwide preying on smaller spiders like crab spiders, orb weavers and jumping spiders. They sting and paralyze the spiders, then deposit them in mud nest cells as food for their larvae.
4. Bone-House Wasps
The bone-house wasp gets its name from building protective nests out of dead ants, It paralyzes spiders with its strong venom before laying eggs on them This invasive species is common across parts of Asia
5. Kleptoparasitic Spider Wasps
Kleptoparasitic wasps like the Ceropales maculate don’t hunt spiders themselves. Instead they lay their eggs on already paralyzed spiders collected by other wasp species, then allow that wasp to unknowingly transport the spider and egg back to its nest.
6. The Zatypota Wasp
The Zatypota wasp uses chemicals to influence the paralyzed spider and prevent it from attacking the feeding larvae. The wasp larva fully controls the living spider throughout its development.
7. The Red Spider Wasp
The red spider wasp seeks out wolf spiders to paralyze and deposit in existing holes or cavities it finds suitable for nesting. It is known for leaving paralyzed spiders on their backs when it needs to locate or modify a nest site.
8. The Black-Banded Spider Wasp
Distinctive for its black coloration, this ground-nesting species targets wolf spiders with its sting. It drags the paralyzed spiders underground to protected nest chambers.
9. The Pepsis Grossa Tarantula Hawk
This large wasp species can take down tarantulas as food for its young. It must trick the tarantula into exposing its vulnerable abdomen before it can land a paralyzing sting.
10. The Hymenoepimecis Wasp
An interesting species, this wasp paralyzes the Plesiometa argyra spider and attaches an egg to its abdomen. The emerging larvae then mind-controls the spider into spinning a protective cocoon web for the pupating wasp.
11. The Polysphincta Boops
This wasp exclusively uses spiders of the genus Araniella to provision nests for its offspring. The larva overwinters inside the paralyzed spider before emerging.
12. The Orange Spider Wasp
As the name suggests, this wasp strictly uses wolf spiders to feed its larvae. It drags the paralyzed spiders into nesting cavities.
13. The European Wasp
An opportunistic predator, this social wasp feeds on spiders, bees, other wasps and even carrion when hungry. It plays an important role controlling garden and household spiders.
14. The Red-Legged Spider Wasp
This solitary wasp provisions its underground burrows with paralyzed spiders of the genera Meta and Araneus. It will temporarily hang captured spiders from plants if its burrow isn’t ready.
15. The Rain Spider Wasp
Preying on rain spiders and other large arachnids, this wasp is found throughout Africa. The male wasps emerge first from the nest and mate with subsequent females.
16. The Organ Pipe Mud Dauber
Specializing in spiders like the orb weaver, this solitary mud dauber builds intricate tubular mud nests supplied with paralyzed spiders to feed its young.
17. The Blue-Black Spider Wasp
Stinging orb weaver spiders and carrying them into pre-made cavities, this pretty black and blue wasp is a common sight patrolling gardens in early summer.
18. Sceliphron Potter Wasps
These large mud daubers build clusters of mud cells attached to flat surfaces. Each cell is provisioned with paralyzed spiders and contains one wasp egg.
19. The Black-and-Yellow Mud Dauber
A colorful but venomous species, it preys on crab spiders and orb weavers to provision its mud nest sites, using stored paralyzed spiders as needed.
20. The Great Golden Digger Wasp
This imposing wasp catches large huntsman and wolf spiders to stock its complex underground burrows, where larvae develop on the paralyzed arachnids.
21. The Blue-Winged Wasp
Though it looks intimidating, this pretty blue-winged wasp uses its sting to paralyze only small spiders like jumping spiders, its preferred larval food source.
Many wasp species have evolved to target and feast on spiders. Their venoms allow them to disable spiders long enough to get them back to the nest and lay eggs. Spider wasps, mud daubers, digger wasps and more all rely on catching spiders to reproduce and continue their life cycle. Though scary looking, these wasps provide free garden pest control services by keeping spider populations in check.
Enter, the Spider-Hunting Wasp
The sound we heard is from a larger species of spider-hunting wasps. There are various species of spider-hunting wasps found at Londolozi, and more than 200 are found in South Africa alone. Before I get too scientific, I need to preface this blog with two things. Firstly, there is a lot we still don’t know about the wasp’s themselves, and secondly, as important as the role they play in maintaining the balance of nature is, these insects are rather barbaric.
Let’s start at the beginning.
As the name would suggest, spider-hunting wasps are a unique genera of wasp species specializing in hunting spiders of all shapes and sizes. Their distinctive flight ‘rattle’ is made in flight with their wings, supposedly to assist them in hunting, by causing movement in the prey (side note: I am unconvinced on this theory as they spend a large amount of time searching the ground in apparent silence).
The females are generally larger than the males, with the largest species up to 50mm in length, dwarfing the smallest species of spider-hunting wasps at less than 10mm. Each species is adapted to hunting spiders, which also vary greatly in size in every conceivable habitat. The spider-hunting wasp is an efficient flier and has a well-developed prothorax to use its forelegs to dig burrows.
This wasp is known for its agile hunting tactics and its ability to paralyse its prey with a venomous sting. The wasp’s venom is a complex mixture of chemicals that work together to disrupt the spider’s nervous system, causing paralysis. In what can only be described as evolutionary mastery, the wasp delivers the exact amount of venom to the spider to only paralyse it, not kill it. Whilst I was sharing this with the doctors on our vehicle, I could see the look of disbelief on their faces, and in turn, I realised what I had just shared.
Here, at Londolozi, there is a wasp – it’s about 5cm long.
And there is a whole medical field of study into anaesthetics, with individuals studying for years to come to grips with the intricacies of the drugs and dosages… and this wasp does that on a daily basis. Without batting an eyelid. Nature is crazy!
This Wasp Mind-Controls Spiders While Eating Them Alive
FAQ
What kind of wasps eat spiders?
Most spider wasps prey on free-living spiders (not the kinds that live in webs) — for example, tarantulas, wolf spiders, crab spiders, and jumping spiders — …
Are spider wasps harmful?
Are They Dangerous? Although they are not aggressive and are solitary wasps, spider wasps will sting when they feel threatened. For most people, a sting causes mild pain and swelling. Allergic individuals can have a more extreme reaction.
Do tarantula hawk wasps sting humans?
The tarantula hawk earned a top score of four, making its sting almost unbearably painful. It’s considered about as painful as the warrior wasp’s sting, and slightly more painful than that of a velvet ant.
Are spider wasps rare?
Spider wasps are not uncommon in the garden where they eat nectar and prey on spiders for egg laying. With a few spider wasp facts, you can get a better understanding of these insects and whether or not you need to control them in your garden or yard.