Largest wasp

The largest wasp – and the largest of all the hymenoptera order – is the giant tarantula-hawk wasp (Pepsis heros), the largest specimen of which is a female from the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park in Peru with a wingspan of 121.5 mm (4.75 in) and a curved body length of c. 62 mm (2.25 in). Females are considerably larger than males. The name is a reference to the wasp preying on the Goliath bird-eating spider and other tarantula species. The wasp grabs the spider in its jaws and paralyses it with its sting; it then drags it back to its nest, lays an egg on its body, and seals it into the nest, where the newly hatched wasp larvae feed on the still-living spider. The record female specimen was measured by Gerardo Lamas of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, and communicated to Dr George Beccaloni of the UK's Natural History Museum in 2006. The forewing length is 57 mm and the distance between the wing bases is 7.5 mm. The curved body length of 62 mm is estimated from a straight length of 52 mm but "its abdomen is very curved so this is an underestimation" according to Dr Beccaloni. He continues: "Wingspan or forewing length is probably a more reliable indicator of the overall size of Pepsis wasps than body length, since the length of the abdomen depends on how much the segments are extended."