Crabronid wasp

Liris argentatus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Crabronidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Crabronid wasp
Photo: Peter Chen 2.0, CC BY

Liris argentatus is a square-headed wasp. Female wasps spend the winter as adults.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Liris argentatus is a square-headed wasp.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Females overwinter as adults.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 36 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, California, Illinois, South Dakota, South Carolina.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Crabronid wasp photo 2
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Crabronid wasp photo 3
Photo: rasamoto, CC BY
Crabronid wasp photo 4
Photo: Curtis Meyers, CC BY-SA
Crabronid wasp photo 5
Photo: Melissa McMasters, CC BY

Same family (Crabronidae)

Eastern Cicada-killer WaspEastern Cicada-killer WaspSphecius speciosusCan stingOrgan-pipe Mud-dauber WaspOrgan-pipe Mud-dauber WaspTrypoxylon politumCan stingAmerican Sand WaspAmerican Sand WaspBembix americanaEuropean beewolfEuropean beewolfPhilanthus triangulumHump-backed BeewolfHump-backed BeewolfPhilanthus gibbosusCan stingOrnate-tailed Digger WaspOrnate-tailed Digger WaspCerceris rybyensis

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liris_argentatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.