Sand wasp

Bembix sp.

Sand wasp · Arverne Preserve · 20 June 2026

A sand wasp, Bembix, on the bare sandy ground at Arverne, which is exactly where they nest. The huge pale green eyes, the greenish-yellow bands across a stocky abdomen and the open sand all fit, and a New York beach with patches of loose sand between the vegetation is prime ground.

The females dig a burrow in loose sand and, unusually for a solitary wasp, keep bringing food to the larva as it grows rather than stocking the nest once and sealing it: flies, caught on the wing, dozens of them over a single larva's development. Which of the eastern Bembix this is would need a closer look at the face; the American sand wasp is the likeliest.