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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps » Thread-waisted Wasps (Sphecidae) » Sphecinae » Sphecini » Sphex » Great Black Digger Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)

Species Sphex pensylvanicus - Great Black Digger Wasp

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Works Cited
Great Black Wasp? - Sphex pensylvanicus - female great black wasp? - Sphex pensylvanicus Katydid Killer with prey - Sphex pensylvanicus - female Great Black Digger Wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus - female Large Black Wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus Great Black Wasp with Pollinia - Sphex pensylvanicus - male Black Wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus Huge wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)
Family Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)
Subfamily Sphecinae
Tribe Sphecini
Genus Sphex
Species pensylvanicus (Great Black Digger Wasp)
Other Common Names
Great Black Wasp
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Ammobia pensylvanica, Chlorion pensylvanicum, Sphex pensylvanicus var. robustisoma Strand 1916
Explanation of Names
Sphex pensylvanicus Linnaeus 1763
Size
average BL: ♂ 22 mm, ♀ 28 mm(1)
Range
se. Canada (ON-QC) & throughout the US (except the northwest) into Mexico
Season
Jul-Sep in NC(2)
Food
Provision nests (in burrow in soft earth) with katydids, such as Microcentrum or Scudderia, usually ~3 prey items per nest.
Life Cycle
see (3)
Works Cited
1.A reclassification of the Sphecinae with a revision of the Nearctic species of the tribes Sceliphronini and Sphecini
Bohart RM and Menke AS. 1963. University of California Publications in Entomology 30:91-182.
2.Insects of North Carolina
C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
3.Wasp Farm
Howard Ensign Evans. 1963. Comstock Publishing.
Contributed by Cotinis on 6 August, 2004 - 6:17am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Hartmut Wisch, Matthias Buck, Robert Lord Zimlich, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 14 May, 2023 - 3:15pm

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