280 days of Urbpandemonium #101

Face down, abdomen up, that's the way she likes to dig a burrow for her eggs. Then this golden digger wasp Sphex ichneumonius* will hunt for an animal in the Tettigoniidae** family--a katydid, in other words--sting it to paralyze it, drag it into the burrow and lay an egg on it. The wasp grub then enjoys fresh insect flesh as it grows. In this case, however, the wasp was digging in sand that was about 2 inches deep over asphalt. Hopefully she found a more appropriate place to raise her young.



* "Mongoose wasp"

** from Greek τεττιξ (τεττιγ-) 'cicada'