How Much Weight Can a Wasp Carry?
WouterWhether you are a pest control operator or a gardener, it is important to understand how much weight a wasp can carry. These insects are capable of carrying much more than their own weight, and are often a valuable biological pest control agent.
The largest wasps, such as the cicada killer wasp, are capable of carrying as much as 150 percent of their body weight. The average wasp carried a prey load that was 74% of its body weight, while the smallest wasps only carried 4.8 percent of their weight. These differences in body size allow for the coexistence of different wasp species in deserts, where there is little food competition.
Some studies have investigated the relationship between predators and their prey size. One such study examined eight widely distributed nesting aggregations of buprestid wasps in North Carolina. The researchers found that the prey load of the buprestid wasps increased from the first to the second generation.
The authors suggested that the ability of a wasp to capture prey may increase its parasitism potential. This relationship is evident in many parasitoidal wasp species. In many of these species, the ovipositor is modified for stinging. This allows the wasp to stun prey, then kill it, to allow the larva to eat fresh meat when it hatches.
In addition, a study of sphecoid wasps found that the head width is correlated with body weight. Generally, the larger the wasp, the larger the prey it can capture.
