Phoneutria versus pepsis wasp

[klawfran3]

There were no winners here, people.

[video=youtube;Njdp0LYdNKU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njdp0LYdNKU[/video]

 

[Smokehound714]

That spider knew what was happening O_O

 

[pannaking22]

Good lord, that was intense!

 

[klawfran3]

Good lord, that was intense!

I find it amazing how much venom came out of the spider. And how little it takes to kill a person too. Those things are not to be trifled with!

 

[pannaking22]

I find it amazing how much venom came out of the spider. And how little it takes to kill a person too. Those things are not to be trifled with!

They really aren't! I thought it was hemolymph initially, but with how it just ran off the body in a couple drops, it definitely seemed to be venom. Amazing!

 

[Lucky Luciano]

I find it amazing how much venom came out of the spider. And how little it takes to kill a person too. Those things are not to be trifled with!

Dangerous - yes, but they're not that deadly, out of 422 confirmed bites only one (of a child) resulted in a death.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10742722

 

[Venom]

Technically I think the Phoneutria won, because Pepsis wasp venom only paralyzes, but doesn't kill the afflicted spider--it lives on in an immobile zombie-state. The wasp, however, definitely bit the dust. Does anyone know if a spider stung by a Pepsis wasp would recover eventually if the wasp larva weren't eating it?

 

[Lucky Luciano]

There are reports of tarantulas rehabilitated by people ( I think this board had a topic too but here's one from another site), with lots of TLC, but in the wild there are too many animals, from ants to birds and mammals who find spiders(or at least tarantulas) to be a tasty snack.

 

[pannaking22]

Very true, Venom, but I can't imagine being paralyzed is that much better lol. I'm sure the Phoneutria would recover over time, but it would be pretty tough and I'm sure it would get picked off well before that point. If a predator didn't get to it, the elements would knock it off before it recovers.

 

[Smokehound714]

They never truly recover. generally the wasp targets the pedicel, many people will nurse a stung tarantula back to health, only to release it to its doom.

Because they permanently lose the ability to move their abdomen, they can no longer raise or use it to web up prey, or effectively dig a burrow. They'll eat and drink, but they'll never survive in the wild.