The
tarantula hawk is neither a tarantula nor a hawk. It’s a really scary
Pepsis wasp. It can grow really large and has an extremely painful
sting. From
Wikipedia:
Commenting
on his own experience, Justin O. Schmidt, entomologist and creator of
the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, described the pain as "…immediate,
excruciating pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything,
except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these
situations."[2] In terms of scale, the wasp's sting is rated near the
top of the Schmidt sting pain index, second only to that of the bullet
ant, and is described by Schmidt as "blinding, fierce [and] shockingly
electric".[5]
The tarantula hawk is the official
state insect of New Mexico. But they range all over, with around 250
species in South America alone.
Redditor Gonolek found
this wasp
dead in the hotel he worked at in Brazil. You can put your hand up your
screen with his to picture how big it is. I would hate to encounter a
wasp that size alive.
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