Hebrew
ṣirˁā - hornet, wasp
(HALOT 1056)
Attested in Ex 23.28 (wəšālaḥtī ˀat-haṣṣirˁā ləpānǟka wəgērəšā ˀät-haḥiwwī ˀät hakkənaˁănī wəˀät-haḥittī milləpānǟkā ‘I will send a wasp before you and it will drive away the Hiwite, the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you’) and parallel passages Dt 7.20 and Jos 24.12. The context does not provide any explicit information for interpreting ṣ. as an insect name whereas a number of alternative translations have been proposed (v. HALOT for references).
Hebrew
ṣī - animals of the desert
(HALOT 1020)
Attested in stereotype passages describing desert beings inhabiting ruins of abandoned cities (Is 13.21, 23.13, 34.14, Je 50.39; ṣiyyīm in Ps 72.9 and 74.14 probably do not belong here). There is no direct evidence suggesting that ṣ. denotes a real animal and not a mythical creature.