Sphex funerarius can reach a length of. These large, solitary, ground-nesting wasps are black with an orange-red large band on the anterior abdomen. On the head and the body there is fine and thin hair. Wings are yellowish with darkened tops of the frontwings.
The larvae feed on living insects that the females paralyze and carry to the undergroundnest. The females of these digger waspsstore several grasshoppers in a nest. They dig a 15 cm long corridor, with various brood chambers, in each of which one prey is stored with an egg. The preys are normallyorthopteran insects, particularly nymphs of locusts or katydids. After three to four days, the eggs hatch and after another 18 days, the larvae are fully grown. Adults fly in July and August. They feed on the nectar of flowers.