Page 123 - World of Animals - Deadly Predators
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Predatory wasps
8. What do they do
with their prey? 12. Is there a time of year
when they’re most active?
Every piece of prey from the wasp’s
The life cycle of predatory
hunt is delivered directly to feed
wasps usually peaks during
their young. Depending on the prey summer. This is when there’s
type, some wasps will look for large most prey available to hunt and
insects or arachnids to continually feed their young.
sustain the larvae as it develops.
Others will habitually hunt smaller
prey, like flies, to keep bringing little © Getty
and often until the larvae are ready
to emerge.
9. Does their prey
have another
function?
For species such as the spider wasp,
prey has another essential and yet
horribly grizzly function. The female
wasp will use the captured spider as
a host for her developing young. A
single egg is laid within the spider,
and then the larvae will consume the
innards until it’s time to emerge. Very 13. What do they look like?
often, these parasitic species will This varies from species to species, but
solitary wasps are often distinguished
paralyse their prey instead of killing
from their social cousins by their long
it, meaning that the host is kept alive
back legs and overall large size.
while the larvae develops.
10. Do they eat what they kill?
Nope – adult species of predatory 14. What is the difference between
wasp will only hunt for their young. predatory and social wasps?
Once they become adults they feed The largest difference is the way
on sugars, which they get from that they live. Solitary wasps build
nectar, fruit and honeydew (a gooey temporary nests on their own; they
substance produced by aphids). The nurture their larvae and then once
adult life cycle is short, and so the they emerge, the young wasp goes
protein they hunt is to sustain the it alone. Social wasps live around the
growing larvae. fertile queen, supported by male
drones and workers (sterile females).
The worker and drone social wasps
11. Are they territorial? build elaborate nests made from
Male solitary wasps may fly at animals
or people who invade their space. plant matter mixed with saliva,
whereas the solitary wasps make
much smaller nests that only last for
the duration of larval development.
15. How do they carry their prey?
Wasps are surprisingly strong!
Depending on the size of their prey,
they will drag it along the floor into
their nest, or some larger species like
the cicada killer wasp may even fly.
Some species of Australian spider
wasps have even been witnessed flying
© Getty carrying huntsman spiders.
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