Giant Digger Wasp
Female, Face
Ellura
Giant Digger Wasp
Female, 10 Flagellomeres
 
                      
Giant Digger Wasp (Sphex carbonicolor)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp (Wasp: Sphecidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Giant Digger Wasp (Sphex carbonicolor)
This Photo:     Female, close up

Thank you Kate Sandiford for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
1st Live Photo on-line
1st Record in SA on Atlas
:
Probably the largest wasp in Australia, with the body & head nearly 40mm long. Sorry for the poor quality photo's. We were still learning to use the new insect boxes (& suspect we were nervous!). This one's body is covered in white hair, is black and has a brown/golden hue to it's wings. It's mandibles are something you don't want attacking you. At first we thought it was a hook. Then realised it was two crossed mandibles that were much bigger than any spider fangs we've seen! Why we captured it we'll never know. We can't remember doing it, we were obviously in shock
OR JUST STUPID. We originally identified this back in Feb as Prionyx globosus. But Kate used the key here to identify it for us. zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=5995
We've looked at the original photo's and can count 10 Flagellomeres (or 12 antennal segments) making this a female.

Copyright © 2015-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 26-Feb-2015
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.