Golden Digger Wasp

Sphex funerarius · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Sphecidae

Also called: European Golden Digger Wasp

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Golden Digger Wasp
Photo: Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA

The golden digger wasp grows to about 15 to 23 mm long and is black with a bright orange-red band on the front part of its abdomen; its wings are yellowish with darker tips on the front wings. Females dig solitary nests in the ground, stock them with paralyzed grasshoppers for their larvae, and the adults feed on flower nectar in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

They are black with a large orange-red band on the anterior abdomen and have yellowish wings with darkened tops on the front wings.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults reach a length of 15 to 23 mm (0.59 to 0.91 in).

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

These wasps are solitary ground-nesters.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae are provided with living insects that the female paralyzes and carries to the nest. Adults drink nectar from flowers such as those in the Apiaceae and Euphorbiaceae families during July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

A female stores several grasshoppers in her underground nest for the developing larvae. Eggs hatch after three to four days and the larvae are fully grown about 18 days later.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults are active and can be seen flying in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

They occur in southern and central Europe and extend eastward into Central Asia.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Golden Digger Wasp photo 3
Photo: Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA

Same family (Sphecidae)

Yellow-legged Mud-dauber WaspYellow-legged Mud-dauber WaspSceliphron caementariumCan stingCommon Blue Mud-dauber WaspCommon Blue Mud-dauber WaspChalybion californicumCan stingGreat Golden Digger WaspGreat Golden Digger WaspSphex ichneumoneusGreat Black Digger WaspGreat Black Digger WaspSphex pensylvanicusCan stingGold-marked Thread-waisted WaspGold-marked Thread-waisted WaspEremnophila aureonotataMexican Grass-carrying WaspMexican Grass-carrying WaspIsodontia mexicana

Sources

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

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.

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