A mostly reddish-brown wasp, with four narrow dark bands circling the abdomen,[3] and with violet-blue wings[4] its body measures 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in) in length.

[10] In Illinois, adults have been recorded as feeding on nectar from Rhus copallina, Cicuta maculata, Eryngium yuccifolium, Oxypolis rigidior, Pastinaca sativa, Asclepias incarnata, Erechtites hieracifolia, and Pycnanthemum tenuifolium.

Both male and female wasps sheltered within a crevice close to the base of the monument at night and when it rained.

The male grasped the rear edge of her fore wings with his tarsal claws and curved his abdomen beneath hers to make contact with her genitalia.

The nest is a simple depression in the soil which the female wasp excavates by raking with her anterior legs and tamping down with her metasoma.