Common Thin Waisted Wasp

Description:

Black with very thin waist, thus the name. About an inch long, slender.

Habitat:

Burrows in loose dirt, makes tunnels and cells under ground.

Notes:

Stings and paralyzes prey, drags it to the tunnel system and lays an egg on it and when the egg becomes a larvae it eats the insect. Also likes flower nectar. Considered beneficial to gardners, non-aggressive. The above wasp lost the caterpillar and when I picked up my flip flop the wasp was gone and the flip flop fell on the caterpillar and killed it. Survived the wasp and killed by a careless me.