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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? on goldenrod - Sphex pensylvanicus

Yellow tarsal appendages, ID? - Sphex pensylvanicus - male

Sphex pensylvanicus on Zigadenus glaberrimus - Sphex pensylvanicus

Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)? - Sphex pensylvanicus - male

Big Mud Dauber ? - Sphex pensylvanicus - female

Pretty sure but wanted to check - Sphex pensylvanicus - Great Black Digger 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)

Females with prey:

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, Robert H. Biagi, PaleoJon
Last updated 10 September, 2024 - 3:07pm

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