Isodontia elegans
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Isodontia elegans, also known as the elegant grass-carrying wasp, is a species of solitary, nest-provisioning, thread-waisted wasp in the family Sphecidae that hunts orthopterans (grasshoppers, crickets, bush crickets, locusts, etc.).
I. elegans is described as having a generally black-color body, rusty-red to yellowish abdomen, and see-through wings with some tinting. They were originally considered to be a species of western and southern North America, but have been found in the northeastern corner of the continent in increasing numbers. They seem to use pre-existing holes created by other insects for their nests and then outfit them with "finely chewed fibers of dead weeds and grass." The grass serves as a defensive barrier at one end of the nest; it keeps parasites from entering while the larvae feed on the paralyzed insects which have been stored in the nursery.
Isodontia elegans may be attracted to same kind of nest holes that appeal to blue orchard mason bees. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Grass-Carrying Wasp sighting in Saguaro National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 300th most-seen of the 354 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Elegant Grass-Carrying Wasp in Saguaro National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July–August and October–May, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Elegant Grass-Carrying Wasp sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Saguaro National Park, in our data
Saguaro National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Elegant Grass-Carrying Wasp sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Elegant Grass-Carrying Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in Saguaro National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
