Great Golden Digger Wasp

About the Great Golden Digger Wasp

The Great Golden Digger Wasp is a large solitary wasp, about an inch long, with a black head and thorax dusted in golden hairs and an orange-and-black abdomen with long orange legs. Despite its size it is docile - males cannot sting, and females sting only if handled.

Each female works alone, digging a vertical burrow in loose soil with side chambers. She hunts katydids and crickets, paralyzes them with a precise sting, and hauls them - sometimes prey heavier than herself - into the burrow, laying one egg per chamber. The larva feeds on the still-living, immobilized prey, overwinters underground, and emerges the following summer.

Adults visit flowers for nectar and are active through the warm months across Texas wherever open ground and blooms occur together.