Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Sphex

Sphecidae - Sphex lucae - female unknown wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus Female, Sphecinae - Sphex pensylvanicus - female Great Golden Digger Wasp   - Sphex ichneumoneus Texan Wasp - Sphex - male Digger Wasp? - Sphex ashmeadi - male Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus)? - Sphex ichneumoneus Black 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
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Although the name is masculine, Linnaeus and many subsequent workers erroneously treated it as feminine.
Explanation of Names
Sphex Linnaeus 1758
from the Greek σφήξ (sphéx), the ancient name of a kind of wasp
Numbers
12 spp. in 2 subgenera in our area(1), ~120 spp. worldwide(2); 9 spp. in e. US(3)
Sphex (Fernaldia)
1. Sphex (Fernaldia) lucae

Sphex (Sphex)
2. Sphex (sphex) ashmeadi: southwestern US (AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, TX, UT)
3. Sphex (Sphex) dorsalis: southern US (FL & GA west to CA)
4. Sphex (Sphex) flavovestitus: eastern US
5. Sphex (Sphex) habenus: eastern US
6. Sphex (Sphex) ichneumoneus: transcontinental
7. Sphex (Sphex) jamaicensis: FL
8. Sphex (Sphex) nudus: eastern US
9. Sphex (Sphex) pensylvanicus: transcontinental
10. Sphex (Sphex) servillei: s. TX
11. Sphex (Sphex) tepanecus: AZ, s. NM, TX
12. Sphex (Sphex) texanus: KS south to TX, AZ
Size
Up to 28 mm
Identification
key to spp. in (4)
Range
worldwide and throughout NA(5)
Food
nests provisioned with katydids (Tettigoniidae); each wasp species specializes on certain prey species
Remarks
Nest in ground