Wasp’s grubs feed on paralyzed spiders
Jim McCormac
Deimos was the Greek god of terror, the son of Ares and Aphrodite. He was often accompanied into battle by twin brother Phobos, the god of fear.
The latter god spawned the word phobia: an extreme or irrational fear of something.
One of the most common fears is arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Another common source of dread is spheksophobia, the fear of wasps.
Combining the two ought to make for a horror show of a column, and my apologies to the phobia-afflicted.
On a recent trip into the Nature Conservancy’s vast Edge of Appalachia Preserve in Adams County, our group made an interesting discovery. After lifting a sheet of tin on the ground while looking for snakes — that fear would be ophidiophobia — we uncovered a number of tiny earthen jugs.
The adobe structures turned out to be the handiwork of a small spider-hunting wasp named Phanagenia bombycina. The female wasp artfully creates the pottery work from myriad tiny mud pellets, and the finished residence serves as a brood chamber for her offspring.
Once the clay nests are complete, it’s time to provision them. The female wasp commences a search for spiders. Once she finds A grub of the spider-hunting wasp Phanagenia bombycina digs into the back of a paralyzed wolf spider. Behind them is the mud nest built for the grub by its mother.
a suitable arachnid, she squares off with her eight-legged opponent and looks for an opening. Quick as a wink, she’ll jab the spider with a sharp ovipositor (stinger) and inject a dose of quick-acting AROUND AND ABOUT
Ikebana workshop
What: Basic nageire arrangement and container workshop led by Soko Cox, sponsored by the Columbus Ohio branch of Sogetsu Ikebana
Where: Harrisburg United Methodist Church, 1160 High St., Harrisburg When: 10 a.m. Tuesday Details: $15, reservations: 614-877-4984
Bats and lightning bugs What: Where:
When: Details: Garden tour What:
neurotoxin.
The spider instantly enters an incapacitated stupor, and the wasp then gnaws off several of her legs. This, presumably, makes the victim easier to cart back to the nest. educational displays during the Union County Master Gardener Tour of Gardens
Where: a map and driving instructions will be provided with each ticket purchase
When: 1 to 5 p.m. next Sunday
Details: Summer-night hike What: Where: When: Details: METRO PARKS
Once back, the wasp stuffs the comatose spider into the adobe crypt, then lays an egg within. When the wasp grub hatches in a few days, it’ll have fresh spider meat, as the paralyzed spider will still be alive.
The wasp grub, which can be seen on the spider’s back in the photo, will consume its grisly meal, growing all the while. It eventually pupates, and later emerges as an adult wasp.
Although such tales are the stuff of nightmares, seemingly gruesome life cycles involving insects and other small invertebrate animals are incredibly common. The horrific dramas largely play out on an elfin scale, and most of us don’t notice. And most people probably don’t want to notice such encounters.
In 1846, Edgar Allen Eagles and eats What: Where: When: Creature feature: turtles What: Where:
When: Details: Firefly watch What: Where: When: Feed the stream What: Poe wrote a short story, “The Cask of Amontillado.” The story’s narrator, Montresor, plots revenge on his former friend, Fortunato, for various slights and insults. Montresor lures the unfortunate Fortunato deep into the catacombs of his palace and seals him alive in a subterranean niche.
At least Fortunato wasn’t first paralyzed and then eaten alive in his tomb.
It’s a good thing that Phanagenia bombycina isn’t the size of a swan, or we might suffer a fate worse than Fortunato. crickets and minnows. Where: Battelle-Darby Creek, 1775 Darby Creek Drive, nature center When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Butterfly walk
What: Take a 2-mile hike and learn about common butterflies in the park. Where: Blacklick Woods, 6975 E. Livingston Ave., nature center
When: 3 p.m. next Sunday Details: for adults, age 50 and older
Family adventure What: Where: When: