Tag Archives: Sphex ichneumoneus

08.03.2022 Wasp Wednesday

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Steve Gingold

Two Ichneumonid wasps from the yard. Great Golden Digger Wasp-Sphex ichneumoneus.  The digger moniker comes from their habit of nesting in the ground and laying an egg in each cell then leaving an orthopteran (grasshopper, locust, katydid, etc) in there for … Continue reading →

Posted in Amherst, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, Insects, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

08.23.2020-2 Great Golden Digger Wasp

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Steve Gingold

I photographed these in the yard a few times on our milkweed flowers.  Now I am finding them on Virgin’s Bower-Clematis virginiana growing among our elderberries behind the wood pile. They are beauties among wasps and relatively harmless…to humans…but do … Continue reading →

Posted in Amherst, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

08.07.2015 More backyard bugography

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Steve Gingold

First of all, this is not a bug by definition.  It’s a Great Golden Digger Wasp-Sphex ichneumoneus and fairly large…about an inch long.  But it’s a gentle giant in terms of aggression towards humans and of no threat whatsoever to … Continue reading →

Posted in Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, Insects, macro photography, Nature Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | 23 Comments