Ammophila sabulosa

Description

Ammophila sabulosa, the red-banded sand wasp, is a species of the subfamily Ammophilinae of the hunting wasp family Sphecidae. Found in northern Europe, the wasp is notable for the mass provisioning behaviour of the females, hunting caterpillars mainly on sunny days, paralysing them with a sting, and burying them in a burrow with a single egg. The species is also remarkable for the extent to which females parasitise their own species, either stealing prey from nests of other females to provision their own nests, or in brood parasitism, removing the other female's egg and laying one of her own instead.