Digger Wasp

Description:

A large wasp, Sphex sericeus, a type of digging wasp. About 2 cm in length, this looks like a female. It was flying low around the cave floor trying to dig a hole deep enough. Picture 2 shows the wasp with the hole it is digging on the top right side, in photo 1, you could see it is holding a chunk of earth that it has removed from the hole. It saw us as a threat and kept on producing a short loud territorial buzzing sound to ward us off.

Habitat:

Around a cave floor in Agop Batu Tulug Archaeological Museum, located beside the highway between Sandakan and Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Notes:

Map accuracy : 1km diameter. Special thanks to fauna_mirifica for the ID