Sand Wasp

About the Sand Wasp

Sand wasps are stocky, fast-flying solitary wasps, usually marked in pale green-gray and black bands, with large eyes that nearly cover the face. They are built for digging - the front legs carry combs of stiff bristles that throw sand backward like a digging dog.

Each female digs her own burrow in loose sand and stocks it with flies she catches on the wing, laying an egg and feeding the growing larva fresh prey. Despite nesting in loose colonies where the ground is right, sand wasps are not aggressive; they are far too busy hunting flies to bother people.

In Texas they are a common sight in the warm months anywhere there is bare sandy ground - trails, stream banks, and field edges.