This is a medium-sized black wasp approximately 1 inch in length. There are distinctive silver patches on the thorax. These may wear off in older individuals. It has a long thread-waist longer than the rest of the bulbous abdomen. The eyes and antennae are also black. The wings are brownish.
This threat-waisted wasp is very common in Fontenelle Forest and, presumably, Neale Woods from mid-summer to fall. It can be found nectaring on a wide variety of wildflowers including Virginia Mountain Mint, Goldenrod and Queen Anne’s Lace.
This is the only species in the genus north of Mexico. Mating pairs, as well as single wasps, are often seen nectaring on flowers in mid-summer. These wasps are caterpillar hunters of the larvae of various moths and skipper butterflies. The female stocks her burrow with one caterpillar to feed the growing larva which emerges the next spring.
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