Black Digger Wasp - Sphex cognatus

FAMILY SPHECIDAE

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


Body length 25mm

This wasp is black in colour with golden hairs on face and thorax. It has the long narrow thread-like waist. Female burrow in ground and prey on crickets and grasshoppers for their young. The wings are clear and slightly tinted with brown colour near the wing-tips.



Female builds nest on the sandy soil. The first picture shows the wasp was entering her nest on the shore of Bulimba Creek.

Male size is often less than 1/3 times of female.



Pictures were taken on early simmer 2004.



Above pictures were taken on mid summer 2009.



Above pictures were taken on Mar 2011.



Sphex is a very large Genus and most species are looked similar. This black Sphex wasp was found in Brisbane and most likely is Sphex cognatus.



Above pictures show a black wasp building a nest in the existing hole of the aluminum ladder in my backyard.

Reference:
1. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - Tillyard, R.J. 1926. Angus & Robertson, Sydney. Page 300 (Chlorion cognatus).
2. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane - Published by Queensland Museum 1995, p116.
3. Sphecidae - Australian National Insect Collection Database, CSIRO.