[meteorite-list] Creepy crawlies!

[Adam Hupe]

I have been bitten (more like chewed on) by Wind Scorpion on my large toe when I feel asleep on my back porch.  Left a distinctive scar that only a creature with two independent sets of jaws can deliver.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as painful as being stung by bark scorpion which feels like somebody is burning you with a hot coal for hours. They are afraid of nothing and will attack anything that moves. I had one chasing me around my back patio.  It moved so quickly that I could not tell what it was until I trapped it.


You think Sun Spiders and Wind Scorpions are bad. On a one to ten scale, a sting from a Tarantula Hawk rates a ten as far as pain goes while a bee sting only rares a one or two and a scorpion sting rates a three or four.  I can only imagine one of these things flying through the air carrying a giant tarantula spider payload.  If you startle it while it is carrying the alive spider back to its nest, it is liable to drop it on you in mid flight.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2010/07/16/tarantula-hawks-deliver-the-big-sting/
I have only seen two of these.  One landed on my sandal while I was wearing it and the other I smashed onto the the side of my head when it buzzed me under a streetlamp.  What a mess!  I identified it through the giant red wings that I combed out of my hair. Thankfully I was not stung by either one.  A sting from one of these will make the strongest man curl up in the fetal position and cry "mama".

Be Careful,

Adam