Its menacing body glistening a deep iridescent blue, a tarantula hawk wasp feeds on the flowers of a narrow-leaf milkweed.
I haven’t found these huge wasps to be particularly aggressive, but I’m not sure at what point a digital camera held inches from the alien-looking insect becomes a threat — and I don’t want to find out!
“Tarantula hawks produce large quantities of venom and their stings produce immediate, intense, excruciating short term pain in envenomed humans. Although the instantaneous pain of a tarantula hawk sting is the greatest recorded for any stinging insect, the venom itself lacks meaningful vertebrate toxicity. …the defensive value of stings and venom of these species is based entirely upon pain. This pain confers near absolute protection from vertebrate predators.”
Shudder…
While photographing the wasp, I also took this short video. From a run earlier this week at Sage Ranch Park.
Large milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on narrow-leaf milkweed. There is a brood of immature bugs (nymphs) in the opening seed pod, between the two adults. The aposematic red-orange color tells predators the insects taste bad. Adults probably benefit from staying on a plant with the nymphs, because collectively the defensive display is more effective.
The adjacent photograph of immature milkweed bugs (from Photography on the Run) is being used by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as part of their “Awesome Adaptations” station educational program.
A western tiger swallowtail butterfly on western columbine near Halfway Camp on the Vivian Creek trail on Mt. San Gorgonio.
A section of the trailing edge of the swallowtail’s right hindwing is missing — probably the result of bird predation. This did not seem to affect the butterfly’s flight. It still nimbly flittered from flower to flower.
There is yellow, and then there is the YELLOW of the mariposa lily, Calochortus clavatus. Remarkable in its brightness and purity, its yellow is one of the most intense and vibrant concentrations of color I have seen in the chaparral.
It is relatively uncommon, and this is one of a few seen along trails in Rocky Peak Park, and the Simi Hills. Of the varieties listed in the Jepson Manual, this appears most similar to the slender mariposa lily (Calochortus clavatus var. gracilis).
The insect emerging from the flower is a small bee — probably a species of Perdita (Andrenidae). These bees were found on several of the mariposa blossoms along the trail. They were usually near the gland near the base of each petal, and partially hidden by the club-like hairs that gives the species its name.
The bright orange-red coloration of these immature large milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) is a warning to predators that they taste bad. Like monarch butterflies, they concentrate foul-tasting compounds from the narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) in their bodies.
Following several instars (molts), the nymph is transformed into the adult insect.
The photograph is from a run at Sage Ranch on July 23, 2007.
