Great Golden Digger Wasp

A beautiful solitary wasp... meaning it lives by itself and not in a hive. Most wasps are actually solitary. Since they don't have a hive to protect, they are not normally aggressive, and will only sting if you deliberately harass them. This species is often found flying low and slow over open ground, looking for a place to dig a burrow in which it will lay one egg. Once it has found a spot, it will catch a cricket or small grasshopper and paralyze it with a sting. The egg will be laid in the burrow next to the grasshopper. The larvae will have a ready-to-eat meal when it hatches!