Whilst looking around an ancient village in An Namas in the Asir mountains of western Saudi Arabia I saw a was that I think may be a Sphecid wasp, also known as digger wasps. They are generally black-bodied insects or black marked with white, yellow or red; some are tinged with metallic blue or green. They range in size from about 2mm up to 51 mm long. They are worldwide in distribution, mainly occupying arid and semi-arid areas. Recent estimates indicate the presence of about 300 of the 9720 species occurring in the Arabian Peninsula
