Common thread-waisted wasp
Ammophila procera
The common thread-waisted wasp is a long, slender wasp with a waist as thin as a thread. It lives alone, not in a big nest. The female digs a burrow in sandy soil and fills it with food for her baby.
Lives in
Southern Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America, in open places with soft, sandy soil
What does it eat?
The grown-ups mostly drink nectar from flowers. The larva eats a caterpillar that its mother caught for it.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Common thread-waisted wasp about 22 km/h (14 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
After digging her burrow, the female flies around it and remembers landmarks like rocks and plants, so she can find it again days later.
2
Some sneaky females take over another wasp's nest and swap the egg for their own.
3
The egg hatches after two days, and the larva eats the caterpillar for about five days.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common thread-waisted wasp
?Why is it called thread-waisted?
Because the waist between its chest and its belly is very long and thin, like a thread.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ammophila procera
- Group
- Wasps and hornets
- Family
- Sphecidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Sphecidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Ammophila procera (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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