The Great Golden Digger Wasp
By Stan Tekiela
After the rush of the spring nesting season, things tend to slow down a bit in the natural world. Sure, some birds such as Cedar Waxwings and American Goldfinch are just getting started in their nesting efforts for the year, but most other species are done with baby birds in the nest and are busy chasing their offspring around to feed them.
But there is plenty of super cool things to see in nature. For instance, I was working in my yard when I heard what sounded like a huge insect flying. The buzzing sound was remarkably loud and when I looked over to see what it was, I saw immediately it was a huge wasp carrying another insect that was at least its own size. Carrying a heavy load would explain why the buzzing sound was so loud. The effort it takes for an insect to carry twice its own weight puts a lot of demand on the wings, which intern produces a louder sound. Much like a truck engine that is moving a heavy load is much louder.
From its bright orange, red and black markings I could clearly see this was a Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus). These wasps are large and intimidating looking. They are over an inch long and have bright red and orange markings on their body and legs. They have large dark wings which they are constantly flicking and twitching. In addition to looking nasty they also do some nasty things.
They have very fine golden “hairs”, which are called setae, on their head which lends to part of their name “Golden”. Like many other wasps, the Great Golden Digger Wasp belongs to the “thin waisted” wasp family (Family Sphecidae). They have a noticeable narrow or thin area between their thorax and abdomen approximately where their waist would be located.
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