Small Sand Wasp - Bembix variabilis

Family Crabronidae

This page contains pictures and information about Small Bembix Sand Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Body length 12mm

This is the smallest Bembix Sand Wasp that we found. The wasp is black and white in colours, its abdomen is black and white striped. Its face and front legs are pale yellow with black markings.



We found a few of those wasp nests on the footpath in the Reserved Area near Tingalpa Reservoir.





This Sand Wasp covers its nest entrance hole before it leaves.

Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 995.
2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p302.
3. Bembix Fabricius, 1775 - Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
4. The Sand Wasps: Natural History and Behavior - By Howard Ensign Evans, Kevin M. O'Neill, Harvard University Press, 2007, Fig 7.10.