Golden Digger Wasp - Sphex ermineus
FAMILY SPHECIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Golden Digger Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- Golden Digger Wasp has the wings, thorax and head in golden-brown colour with a black body. Its legs are strong and running fast. They were usually found hunting on ground.
Hunting on ground
- We found this wasp in Karawatha Forest during late summer. It was hopping and searching on the forest floor.
- This wasp is quite common in Brisbane bushlands.
- Notice in the above last photo the wasp is carrying a grasshopper.
Feeding on flowers
- We also sometimes found them feeding on flowers during sunny summer day.
- Notice its "tongue" for feeding on flowers.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 991.
- 2. Wasps - family Sphecidae - lifeunseen.com, by Nick Monaghan.
- 3. Sphecidae - Australian National Insect Collection Database, CSIRO.
