Sphex Lucae

Related Wasp and Bee Info Great Golden Digger Wasp Types of Bees Types of Wasps

With a couple dozen different wasp species having an orange to red abdomen color, identifying any one species by abdominal color can be problematic.

The thread-waist on the wasp in the top picture puts it in the Sphecidae family, and a quick look at common thread-waisted wasps in the Genus Sphex shows it to be a Sphex lucae.

Compared to its relative the Great Golden Digger Wasp, it's a more uncommon species, limited mostly to areas in the Western United States.

© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels