Parkville Nature Journal - Blue-Black Spider Wasp

Gracie dog stopped short to sniff the pavement. A sleek, iridescent black wasp was crossing our path, laboriously dragging an immense Wolf Spider.

The metallic-armored warrior stayed focused on her task - until Gracie’s nose intruded. The wasp released the spider and flitted in fast circles around our feet. The spider aimlessly waved one leg over the hot cement. I stepped back, mesmerized. Was the spider anesthetized?

The wasp returned to the spider, bit onto a hairy leg and escorted the drunken figure over the curb and into the grass.

Encounters with nature often lead me to search for answers in an Audubon Society Field Guide. What I found was interesting but not comforting:

The Blue-Black Spider Wasp, usually female, digs into soft sandy soil to prepare a nest chamber for her larvae. Searching rapidly on the ground and around tree trunks, the wasp locates and stings a spider - preferably a meaty Wolf Spider - to permanently paralyze it. With focus and determination the wasp drags the spider to her chamber and lays an egg on its live body. She leaves, sealing the “nursery” where the larva hatches and eats the spider before spinning itself into a silky cocoon.

I immediately thought of my favorite poet in fifth grade, Mr. Ogden Nash.
The last word of this poem popped into my head:

The wasp and all his numerous family
I look upon as a major calamity.
He throws open his nest with prodigality,
But I distrust his waspitality.

To offset potentially disturbing facts about nature, I strongly recommend keeping The Golden Trashery of Ogden Nashery next to your Audubon Society Field Guide…