Wasp Identification Help

I need some help identifying a wasp. I have never in my 13 years in Los Angeles County, California ever seen anything like what I just saw. I spent 11 years in Texas too. I have never seen anything like it there.

I was washing dishes in the kitchen when I saw the strange insect fly from around the corner of the house and run right into the window.

It was a bright green, metallic almost, maybe a bluish green color. It had red wings. It walked around on top of the smoker we use to smoke meat and flapped its wings up and down rapidly. It literally walked right off the edge of the smoker, tumbled head over heels and flew off before hitting the ground. It flew very slow and the wings looked almost disproportionately small for its body.

The key thing is it was huge. It was about 3 inches long and maybe stood an inch tall and the abdomen was at least half an inch in circumference.

It definitely had the body of a wasp. That much I can tell you without a doubt that it looked exactly like a wasp.

If anyone can identify this thing for me, please do. I have never eve,r ever seen it before.

A tarantula hawk?

link



[edit on 8/19/2010 by EnlightenUp]

Cool bugs!

I was working at a cell site on a hill just north of San Diego and one of those buzzed my head and sent me tripping and tumbling to the ground. About 10 minutes later I watched it drag a tarantula, which was about 4 times as big as the wasp, about 60 feet across the ground to a hole. I was in awe just watching.

reply to post by EnlightenUp


Thanks for the video man! Awesome!

LOL!! So hilarious!! I clicked on the thread knowing that what you will describe will be a tarantula hawk.

I hate them so much because of how big and scary they are.... and watching videos of them take down giant spiders is not fun to think about!!

reply to post by abecedarian


I would love to see it do that! That sounds cool. It was beautiful but I would hate to make her mad!

reply to post by TheBloodRed


That was my first encounter with one. Beautiful creatures. Did you read how painful their sting is! I do not wanna piss her off!

Any critter that can take out a tarantula gets my respect and friendship.

Its just a shame I'm as terrified of wasps as I am of spiders!