Bug FAQAmerican Sand Wasp
Bembix americana · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Crabronidae
American Sand Wasps are 16-20 mm long and have a black abdomen with five white bands, green eyes, yellow legs and clear wings with brown veins. They nest in bare sandy soil, often in groups, and are active from June through August, with larvae overwintering underground. Adults drink nectar while females hunt flies, paralyze them with a sting, and bring them back to feed their larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 16 and 20 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
They are not aggressive toward humans and usually only fly close while hunting flies. Females sting prey to inject venom that paralyzes the insect, not to defend themselves.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They prefer bare sandy soils for nesting and can be found in many habitats across North America.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed mainly on flower nectar; females capture flies, sting them to paralyze, and bring the prey to their nests for the larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults are active in summer, die off in fall, and the larvae develop underground through winter before emerging as adults.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
They are most common from June to August and disappear as winter approaches.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range covers the contiguous United States, parts of Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 47 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, Ohio.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Do American Sand Wasps bite or sting people?
They are not aggressive and rarely approach humans; they only sting insects they capture.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Crabronidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bembix_americana
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.