Spider-hunting wasps
Pompilidae
Wasp
Long-legged wasps that live two entirely different lives. The adult feeds at flowers, drinking nectar and picking up pollen as it goes, which is why some plants are built to attract a wasp rather than a bee. The female then hunts a spider — often one far larger than herself — paralyses it with a sting, drags it to a burrow and lays a single egg on it, and the larva that hatches eats the spider. The insect at the flower and the insect hauling a baboon spider across the sand are the same animal at different points in its life.
Plants in the catalog
Plants this species pollinates · 1
SANBI states outright that the flowers attract pompilid wasps and bees, which feed on nectar and pollen and pollinate the plant. The sweet scent is the draw, and a wasp-pollination syndrome is unusual enough that it is the reason this plant could not be wired to anything until a wasp record existed.
Range
A large family found worldwide apart from the poles. This is a family-level group entry, and the images are southern African Hemipepsis species, the group that matters for the South African plants in this catalog; each image names the species shown.
Sources & citations
Cite this page
Use this citation for the Plotwright wildlife record. Use the source cards below to explore the references that informed its taxonomy, range, conservation, host plants, foraging, and habitat.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Spider-hunting wasps (Pompilidae). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/pompilid-spider-wasps
Sources used for this record
This record is compiled from the sources below.
SANBI PlantZAfrica: Eucomis comosa
The source behind this record's reason for existing. SANBI states that Eucomis comosa "attracts Pompilid wasps and bees, which visit to feed on nectar and pollen resulting in pollination" — naming the FAMILY, which is why this entry is authored at family level rather than narrowed to a genus the source does not name.
GBIF: Pompilidae
GBIF backbone key 7913 is the accepted family record for Pompilidae in the order Hymenoptera.
iNaturalist: Pompilidae
iNaturalist taxon 54028 is the active family record. The species shown on this page are Hemipepsis capensis, H. hilaris and an unidentified Hemipepsis with prey, all within it.
Wikipedia: Spider wasp
Corroborating reference for the split between the nectar-feeding adult and the spider-provisioned larva, and for the hunting and burrowing behaviour.