Wasp 1, Spider 1 | Backyard and Beyond

Wasp 1, Spider 1

Published August 26, 2022 Uncategorized 1 Comment

I don’t see Rusty Spider Wasps often in NYC. Nor do others: there are only 15 observations of the species on iNaturalist for the city, nine of them mine.

And I’d never seen this before. I came upon this scene after she had stung this wolf spider (Tigrosa species) and watched her drag it backwards.

Up five and a half feet of a granite tombstone and over the top into the shrubbery on the other side. This is a wasp who hunts before digging out a nest site. She will deposit an egg on the paralyzed spider and then bury the evidence.

About 15 minutes later, some 50 yards from first scene, I came across this.

As I said, this is an uncommon wasp species here, so this could very well be the same wasp. Looks like the same species of spider as prey, too.

But the spider wasn’t fully knocked out.

And made a getaway. Or maybe not… I don’t know how long the wasp’s sting(s) need(s) to take effect.The spider definitely wasn’t going full speed ahead.

It’s lively out here.

1 Response to “Wasp 1, Spider 1”

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1 nature969 August 26, 2022 at 8:32 am

Great narrative details!

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