Golden Hunting Wasp

...with prey! The wasp is about 23mm long. While it might be a Cryptocheilus australis, some of the photos I have seen of that wasp show a lot of black on the thorax. This one is all golden.

This is a very poor quality photo, but I have been trying to get a photo of this wasp for years. They fly close to the ground and are gone in an instant. Lately I have been obsessed with getting one that hangs around a smallish area at the side of the house. I see it often, but just for a moment. It quickly creeps under the grass or larger plants close to the house. It is very wary and it walks with a strange jerky movement that makes it even more difficult to pin down. It has very long, thin legs.

This afternoon I caught sight of it from the kitchen window, rapidly crossing the lawn, and I dashed out with my camera. Keeping my distance I managed to get this shot as it dragged the spider backwards very rapidly. A second later it had vanished under the borage.

The wasp preys on big spiders, paralysing them with a bite and dragging them back to its nest to feed to its young. I'm pretty sure that the spider it has here is a vagrant spider of the Zoropsidae family, due to the shield-like thorax. It was at about 15mm long, possibly a young one.

One year ago: One of my best ever shots.