Digging wasps

I was sitting outside, sitting on the shady side of the porch when I saw a tiny hole in the ground. The first thought that entered my mind was "ground wasps". The hole was too small though (yes, I have personally seen holes dug by wasps). I'm guessing it was/is a tiny ant hole/entrance to the underworld. That got me wondering though, "How do wasps dig?" Well, I of course did a google-search and the first site gave me this information (below)

3. Diggers these as their name implies are wasps which dig a hole in the ground for their nests, these can again be conveniently divided into four general groups depending on how they dig their holes, though a given species may use 2 or 3 of the following methods.

   • Pushers like Cerceris arenaria push the soil out of their burrows backwards using a specially flattened 'pygidium' (a small area at the end of the abdomen).
   • Pullers like Mellinus arvensis back out of the developing burrow carrying the excavated soil between the underside of their head and their forelegs, the soil or sand is generally left near the entrance.
   • Carriers like Ammophila pubescens pick up the soil in the same manner as the pullers but instead of just dragging it out to the edge of their hole they fly off with it and deposit it some distance from the nest.
   • Scrapers dig by scraping the soil away between their back legs with their front legs, using their legs either alternately like Oxybelus sp, or synchronously like the Pompilidae.

Sphex ichneumoneus the American Great Golden Digger can take between 15 minutes and 4.5 hours to dig a nest hole depending the soil she is digging in.

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