Description
English: Male Tarantula_Hawk (Pepsis formosa). Photo by DaveHood, Grant Ranch, CA
Date 15 January 2007 (original upload date)
Author Davehood at English Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Davehood
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pepsis_formosa02.jpg

Pepsis grossa, formerly and perhaps better known as Pepsis formosa, is a very large species of pepsid spider wasp from the southern part of North America, south to northern South America. It preys on tarantula spiders, giving rise to the name tarantula hawk for the wasps in the genus Pepsis and the related Hemipepsis. Only the females hunt so only they are capable of delivering a sting, which with that of the bullet ant is considered the most painful of any insect sting scoring 4.0 to the bullet ant's 4.0+ on the Schmidt sting pain index. It is the state insect of New Mexico. There are three colour morphs, the xanthic orange winged form and the melanic black winged form. In northern South America there is a third form, known as "lygamorphic" which has a dark base to the wings which have dark amber median patches and a pale tip. Order: Hymenoptera, Superfamily: Pompiloidea, Family: Pompilidae, Subfamily: Pepsinae.
Synonyms:
Pepsis affinis Dahlbom, 1845
Pepsis colombica Brèthes, 1926
Pepsis formosa (Say, 1823)
Pepsis nephele Lucas, 1895
Pepsis obliquerugosa Lucas, 1895
Pepsis pattoni Banks, 1945
Pepsis pellita Haupt, 1952
Pepsis pseudoformosa Cockerell, 1898
Pompilus formosus Say, 1823
Salius grossus (Fabricius, 1798)
Sphex grossa Fabricius, 1798)