| Photo#330532 | |  | | Copyright © 2009 tkeller | |
Tarantula Hawk? - Pepsis -  East Mesa area, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA September 2, 2009 Size: 5-6 cm
This was found on the floor of a school bus - terrorizing children. When in the sun, it would get quite active and walk around and try to fly. In the shade it would move much slower, and taken indoors would barely move. It seemed injured, as when it tried to fly, it would simply fall to the ground. It did not appear to have a stinger (I'm new at this, do some not have stingers?) The mouth parts looked fearsome, and it had a yellowish 'tongue' that it would clean its forelimbs with. The color was a stunning green/blue iridescent in direct sun, and seemed black in the shade.
It was quite docile, and I later carried it around on my hand for most of the morning. Kids were fascinated by it, and would carefully touch the wings. (I noticed that the older the children were, the more afraid they were - many adults would not even get near me). After a morning of show and tell with K through 6th grade, we let it go; though I fear it probably did not survive.
Images of this individual: tag all
Contributed by tkeller on 8 September, 2009 - 12:35pm Last updated 17 September, 2009 - 6:15pm |