Spider or Crabronid wasp for ID

[tigger]

Hello! This wasp has definitely been digging a nest in the sand box I've provided at the bottom of my bee/wasp hotel.

Here's a short video of the digging going on yesterday

Digging Wasp for ID | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and here are an assortment of photos I've taken of it.



I haven't seen it bring prey to the nest - so no idea what it is. Any ideas?

Cheers. Jane

[Jason Green]

Morning Jane,

It's a Pompilid - Spider-hunting Wasp. Oh, and Crabronids are a Sphecid sub-family (clumped a few decades ago, though it still catches me!).

Take care,

Jason

[tigger]

Just realised I didn't add the video properly - here it is again. You can see it digging away and pulling out the sand. For a tiny wasp (<1cm) it was pretty strong!

Video: Spider Wasp digging her nest? | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Cheers. Jane

[eucera]

I think you might have this back to front Jason;-) What I used to call "Specidae" when I first started with bees and wasps, has been split into Specidae (sensu stricto) - just a few genera eg Ammophila, Podalonia and Sphex, and Crabronidae - all the rest.