---
title: "Great Golden Digger Wasp"
description: "Sphex ichneumoneus — Insecten en spinnen. Sphex ichneumoneus, known commonly as the great golden digger wasp or great golden sand digger is a wasp in the family Sphecidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/great-golden-digger-wasp
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Great Golden Digger Wasp

> Sphex ichneumoneus — Insecten en spinnen. Sphex ichneumoneus, known commonly as the great golden digger wasp or great golden sand digger is a wasp in the family Sphecidae.

- Scientific name: *Sphex ichneumoneus*
- Category: `insects` (Insecten en spinnen)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 35513
- Wikidata: [Q3493365](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3493365)
- iNaturalist taxon: [85362](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/85362)

## Names

- en: Great Golden Digger Wasp
- fr: Grand sphex doré

## Countries with the most observations

US (26742), CA (5071), MX (88), EC (41), AR (37), PA (20), CO (19), CR (17), BR (10), HN (8), NI (6), PE (5)

## Summary

Sphex ichneumoneus, known commonly as the great golden digger wasp or great golden sand digger is a wasp in the family Sphecidae. It is identified by the golden pubescence on its head and thorax, its reddish orange legs, and partly reddish orange body. This wasp is native to the Western Hemisphere, from Canada to South America, and provisions its young with various types of paralyzed Orthoptera.
Douglas Hofstadter cites the observation by Woodridge of S. ichneumoneus continually repeating behavior (checking a burrow before pulling in a cricket) as an example of genetic determinism, calling the behavior "sphexish"…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphex_ichneumoneus

## Photo

![Great Golden Digger Wasp](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/great-golden-digger-wasp/medium.jpg)

Photo: Adam Kranz · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/24625717

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/great-golden-digger-wasp?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).