34 Nebraskaland • July 2020
o you remember being a kid and drawing beasts that
combined the features of several diff erent animals?
"Look what I made! It's a creature with the head of a
lion, the wings of a dragon and the body of a zebra!"
If a group of entomologists got together to play that
game, one of them might come up with something that looks
like the wasp mantidfl y (Climacella brunnea).
"Look what I made! It's a creature with the head of a lacewing,
the front legs of a mantis and the body of a paper wasp!"
The wasp mantidfl y is most closely related to lacewings and
antlions. It is a predator that uses its praying mantis-style front
legs to capture small prey. In addition, it sometimes feeds on
liquids exuded by certain plants. Its wasp disguise likely helps
the mantidfl y avoid being eaten by potential predators, since
most of those predators are savvy enough to recognize the
problems associated with trying to catch and eat a paper wasp.
Wasp mantidfl ies can be found across Nebraska and most of
North America, but they are commonly overlooked because of
their successful mimicry.
Female wasp mantidfl ies lay hundred of eggs in long rows
on leaves. When the eggs hatch, the larvae hang out until
they spot a passing spider. When that happens, they attempt
to attach themselves to the spider, and if successful, act as
parasites by feeding on the spider's blood. However, the larvae
are really waiting for the spider to lay eggs, which are the main
food source of mantidfl y larvae.
If a mantidfl y larva ends up on a male spider, it will wait for
an opportunity to hop over to a female – often during mating.
The larva then allows itself to get wrapped up in the spider's
silk-covered egg sac, where it can feed on those eggs and
tiny spiderlings at its leisure. Once it has eaten enough, the
mantidfl y larvae creates its own silk covering as protection
while it metamorphs into an adult.
Despite being formidable predators, both as adults and
larvae, wasp mantidfl ies are harmless to humans. In fact, their
weak fl ying ability makes them easy to catch and observe, and
they'll readily feed on fl ies or other small prey you provide for
them. The trick, of course, is to fi nd a wasp mantidfl y in the
fi rst place. Most creatures that look like paper wasps really are
paper wasps, after all, and there can be risks to examining each
one closely enough to see if it's faking.
N
Chris Helzer is a contributing editor to Nebraskaland.
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