“…and today we’re talking about an insect that would probably shop at Hot Topic. But more on that later.”
When you’re a spider wasp, you don’t have time to raise kids. They’re expensive, a liability, and they never stop asking for more spider gut snacks. So rather than deal with all that, it’s best to just find a little crevice to lay your eggs and call it a day. But you still need to make sure your neglected progeny survives, right? Well maybe the ideal house for your precious little ones is a bone house. It turns out that sharing a dank nook with the unalive is a great way to survive here in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.
Description of the Bone House Wasp
Like other spider wasps, it has a slender body with long legs and a narrow waist. Its coloration is typically dark, which helps it blend into its environment.
Measure Up
Welcome to the beloved Measure Up segment. The official listener’s favorite part of the show! The part of the show when we present the animal’s size and dimension in relatable terms through a quiz that’s fun for the whole family. It’s also the part of the show that’s introduced by you when you send in audio of yourself saying, singing, or chittering the words Measure Up into ldtaxonomy at gmail dot com. We don’t have a new Measure Up intro!
Body Length
8.9 to 15.2 mm
The bone house wasp is the same length as…
- One 21,165,000th the length of the Paris Catacombs.
- 1/23rd the length of a human femur
- ⅓ the height of a 6 oz can of Campbell’s bone broth.
Fact: Despite the vast tunnels, only a fraction of the Paris Catacombs are open to the public.
Forewing Length
7.4 to 13.3 mm
The bone house wasps wings are the same length as…
- A black widow’s foreleg
- 1/15th the height of a human skull
- 1/1127.82 the height of Cemetery Church of All Saints in the Czech Republic.
Fact: Sedlac Ossuary is a chapel under the Cemetery Church of All Saints with the skeletons of 70,000 people built into it.
Fast Facts about the Bone House Wasp
Diet
As adults, they primarily feed on floral nectar. However, their larvae have a different diet. The female wasp paralyzes spiders and places them in the nest as food for the developing larvae.
Lifecycle
- Wasps lay their eggs in dank cavities near where spiders hang out.
- After laying the eggs, the female seals the nest with a unique vestibular cell filled with dead ants. This is believed to protect the nest from predators and parasites by using the chemical cues from the dead ants.
- Larval Development: The larvae feed on the provided spiders and develop within the sealed nest.
- Emergence: Once fully developed, the adult wasps emerge from the nest to continue the cycle.
Major Fact: Bone Bone-House With Lots and Lots of Rooms/O Death, There Is Thy Sting
- Unique Behavior: The bone-house wasp is known for its distinctive practice of using dead ants to construct vestibules in its nest.
- Nest Construction: The wasp builds its nest in pre-existing cavities, such as hollow stems or wood.
- Chamber Separation: The nest consists of multiple brood cells separated by partitions made of plant debris, resin, or soil.
- Ant Corpses: At the entrance of the nest, the wasp creates a vestibule using the corpses of ants.
- Chemical Defense: The dead ants still have their communication chemicals that seem to deter predators and parasites from entering the nest.
- In one study with other species of cavity-dwelling wasps, the others had a 16% parasitism rate while the bone house only had 3%
- The wasp selects specific ant species, often those with potent chemical defenses, to maximize the deterrent effect.
- This behavior is an evolutionary adaptation that enhances the survival rate of the wasp’s larvae.
- The bone-house wasp’s use of ant corpses is a unique example of using chemical camouflage in the insect world.
- I’ve been to the San Francisco Ossuary in Lima Peru
Ending: So sprout your wings, strike out on your own, and build your home with a vestibule fashioned out of the corpses of your foes like the bone-house wasp here in LDT.