An important predator and pollinator who’s importance is often overlooked due to fear. The Great Black Digger wasp is a large, completely black wasp with a thin waist. Their wings are smoky with a blueish sheen. Their bodies are also covered in many fine hairs that collect pollen during their trips to the garden. These insects are typically unbothered by humans minding their business and will only sting if threatened. Males do not have a stinger.
Grassland, Urban
Distributed across most of the contiguous United States and northern Mexico
Abundant
Diurnal
Insects such as katydids which is fed to their young and nectar from flowers
Adult females build an underground nest which they provision with insects particularly of the orthoptera order (crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers). Prey are stung three times, once in the neck and twice in the thorax, and are paralyzed by the wasp's sting. The prey are then carried to the nest. The Great Black wasp is an important pollinator of plants including the milkweeds Asclepias syriaca and A. incarnata. It has also been reported on Daucus carota, Eryngium yuccifolium, Melilotus albus, Monarda punctata (beebalm), and Pycnanthemum virginianum (mountain mint).
Wasps are very important predators of insects and very effective pollinators
Least Concern
