[1][2] Sphex funerarius can reach a length of 15–23 millimetres (0.59–0.91 in).

The larvae feed on living insects that the females paralyze and carry to the underground nest.

The females of these digger wasps store 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 normally orthopteran insects, particularly nymphs of locusts or katydids.