How is the tarantula hawk's sting rated?

Among the most painful insect stings

Tarantula Hawk Quiz: The Wasp With a Legendary Sting

This tarantula hawk quiz watches a spider wasp with glowing orange wings stalk the desert. Play 10 interactive questions on females paralyzing tarantulas, dragging them to a burrow, laying a single egg, larvae feeding on the living spider, a sting ranked among the most painful, adults sipping nectar, warning colors, few predators and New Mexico's state insect.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Type
What kind of insect is a tarantula hawk?
Prey
Which animal do females hunt?
Sting
What does the sting do to the spider?
Nest
Where does the wasp take the spider?
Egg
What does the female lay on the spider?
Larva
What does the larva eat?
Pain
How is the tarantula hawk's sting rated?
Adults
What do adult tarantula hawks eat?
Wings
What color are their wings often?
State
Which US state named it the state insect?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What kind of insect is a tarantula hawk?
Answer: A spider wasp
It is large and metallic blue-black.
Q2: Which animal do females hunt?
Answer: Tarantulas
They are much bigger than the wasp.
Q3: What does the sting do to the spider?
Answer: Paralyzes it
The spider stays alive.
Q4: Where does the wasp take the spider?
Answer: Into a burrow
Often the spider's own burrow.
Q5: What does the female lay on the spider?
Answer: A single egg
The larva hatches on it.
Q6: What does the larva eat?
Answer: The paralyzed spider
It grows inside the burrow.
Q7: How is the tarantula hawk's sting rated?
Answer: Among the most painful insect stings
Pain fades in minutes.
Q8: What do adult tarantula hawks eat?
Answer: Flower nectar
Milkweed flowers attract them.
Q9: What color are their wings often?
Answer: Bright orange
Colors warn predators.
Q10: Which US state named it the state insect?
Answer: New Mexico
It was chosen in 1989.

The Wasp That Hunts Spiders

The tarantula hawk is a large spider wasp with a metallic blue-black body and bright orange wings that warn predators. It lives in warm, dry regions of the Americas, especially deserts of the southwestern United States, where New Mexico named it the state insect in 1989.

A female hunts a tarantula much bigger than herself, stings it to paralyze it and drags it into a burrow, often the spider's own. She lays a single egg on the spider and seals the burrow. When the larva hatches, it feeds on the living but paralyzed spider, growing until it emerges as an adult.

Its sting is rated among the most painful of any insect, though the intense pain fades within minutes. Few predators attack tarantula hawks. Adults are gentle unless handled and spend much of their time drinking nectar from flowers such as milkweed.

What This Quiz Teaches

Insect fans will enjoy these questions.

What tarantula hawks are
How they hunt
How larvae grow
How painful the sting is
What adults eat

Did You Know?

Males do not sting.
Roadrunners may eat them.
Some species are huge.
Tarantulas sometimes fight back.
They fly low over the ground searching.