Scolia dubia, also known as the blue-winged wasp, is a 2–2.5 cm (0.78740157480315–0.984251968503937 ) long wasp that ranges from New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 to Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and west to the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 in North America. The head, thorax , and first two abdominal segments are black, while the remainder of the abdomen is red with two bright yellow spots on the third abdominal segment. The distal section of the blue-black wings has longitudinal wrinkles. These wasps nectar on flowers in late summer and early fall.

Females burrow into ground in search of grubs, particularly those of the green June beetle, Cotinis nitida

Cotinis nitida

Cotinis nitida, also known as the green beetle, is a beetle of the family Scarabaeidae. It occurs in the southeastern part of the United States. It is not easily distinguished from the related southwestern species, Cotinis mutabilis....

, and the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica. The wasp stings the grub and frequently burrows farther down to construct a cell and lay an egg on the host. The larva pupates and overwinters inside the body of the host.