Sphex ichneumoneus

Sphex ichneumoneus
Sphex ichneumoneus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Apoidea
Family:	Sphecidae
Subfamily:	Sphecinae
Tribe:	Sphecini
Genus:	Sphex
Species:	S. ichneumoneus
Binomial name
Sphex ichneumoneus (Linnaeus, 1758)

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.^[1]

D. 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".^[2] Daniel Dennett has pointed out that too much is made of emblematic examples from the animal kingdom; human behavior is much more complex.

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