black wasp

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BLACK WASP....WATERCOLOUR...15 CM* 10 CM...Sphex pensylvanicus is a species of digger wasp, commonly known as the great black wasp. It lives across most of North America and grows to a size of 20–35 mm (0.8–1.4 in). The larvae feed on living insects which the females paralyze and carry to the underground nest. S. pensylvanicus is distributed across the Continental United States, except in the north-west, and also occurs in northern Mexico. The northernmost localities in which it has been reported are Durham, New Hampshire, Malden, Massachusetts, Lyman, Maine, and Amherst, Massachusetts, as well as locations in the states of New York, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota. phex pensylvanicus is a large, black wasp, significantly larger than its congener Sphex ichneumoneus (the great golden digger wasp). Males are smaller than females, at only 19–28 mm (0.7–1.1 in) long, to females 25–34 mm (1.0–1.3 in). According to John Bartram, "The Sting of this Wasp is painful, but does not swell like others". As well as being larger than S. ichneumoneus, it is also darker, with smoky wings and an entirely black body, where S. ichneumoneus has yellow wings, red legs, and a partly red abdomen. Sphex pensylvanicus was the subject of the first article on an insect written by a native of the New World, when observations made by John Bartram on S. pensylvanicus were presented to the Royal Society in 1749 by Peter Collinson. Sphex pensylvanicus was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 work Centuria Insectorum, using material sent to him by Charles De Geer. [INFORMATION ; WIKIPEDIA] In India we can see them also.