This wasp was dragging dead leaves, small pieces of bark (?) and once or twice green leaves into a still solid but rotting stump at the edge of a ten-year-old clear cut, 30 feet below a ridge top. We watch multiple times as it carried this debris into the stump. I know the spider wasps carry paralyzed prey to lay eggs on, but have never heard of this type of behavior before. what made it more curious - collegue Doug Wynn had implanted a female Timber Rattler and we tracked it to this same stump that morning, where we found at least 5 baby rattlers -- according to Doug and their recent molt, they were five days old. We knew from the radio signal that the female was inside the stump -- but she was deep enough within that we never saw her. But while looking at the baby rattlers and getting photos, we also observed this interestign wasp behavior.
I checked the specimen (collected after photos) against collections at the Ohio Historical Society and think is may be Tachypompilus ferrugineus, the Red-tailed Spider Wasp. I'd like that ID confirmed if possible -- and more importantly, and information on the behavior we observed.