help ID a wasp

[Sheri]

with no picture! Isn't this fun?

I am scared of wasps. Quite scared, even though I find them fascinating and pretty, I am pretty much terror-stricken at the same time.

We just moved and we had a billion yellow jackets nests in the side of the house. Took care of those.

But there seems to be some hornet species here as well, and one I am not familair with. I have only ever seen three individuals, two of which were just now. So, forgive the spelling errors as my hands may be shaking.

Anyway, these ones were scouting over hte ground, close to where we have removed a different species of nornet nest. It was hard ot tell if they were behaving collectively or if these were a solitary species.

They were impressive, very large and a deep orange colour, with a black abdomen.

I thought maybe if someone had some links to images fitting the description, I might be able to come closer to an ID.

We live in south-west Saskatchewan, just east of the Alberta border and above Montana.

 

[Crotalus]

Maybe they were humming birds

 

[Sheri]

I'll catch a couple, put 'em in bed with you and test that theroy.

 

[lucanidae]

Sounds like some sort of Sphecid wasp, that would be my best guess from the info.

 

[Sheri]

yep, you were right.

When we got home, there were several holes from an area we had just removed leaves and debris from, revealing a open patch of fine sandy soil.

 

[SnakeManJohn]

Hm..by large, you mean like the size of your pinky or bigger? I have a lot of those around here, especially up in the 80 acres of woodlands nearby, my dad parked the car next to a nest and rolled my window down next to one lmao. They're huge but very nice looking. I know what you're talking about, I couldn't figure out what it was either :S

 

[Sheri]

I think the one's you are thinking of are tarantula hawks, Pepsis sp. - they are much bigger than the ones I just described.

Here is an example;