| Cicada
killers are
large wasps, nearly 1 1/4" long, resembling large yellow jackets or
hornets.
They are common throughout the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains,
in areas where annual cicadas are prevalent. Adult wasps appear
about
the first week of June in Arkansas, at about the time when cicadas
begin
to emerge. Females are twice as large as males. After
mating,
the females excavate nests in the ground, usually in full sun where
vegetation
is sparse and the soil is light and well-drained. They loosen
compacted
earth by biting at it with their mandibles. They then use their
forelegs
to push the soil under their bodies and their hind legs to expel the
dirt
from the tunnel. The excavation activities often create mounds of
soil in lawns. Each female digs burrows 6-10" deep and oval
chambers
perpendicular to the main tunnel that hold each of her sixteen or so
eggs
along with the paralyzed prey. She hunts cicadas, and after
locating
one, she paralyzes it with her sting and transports it to her elaborate
undergorund burrow. The prey can weigth up to three times as much
as the predator, so most wasps drag cicadas along the ground and up a
tree
or other vertical object, from which they can launch themselves
downwards
toward their burrows. The female wasp places an egg under a femur
of one of the cicada's middle legs and then seals the cell. The
wasp
larva hatches in a day or two and grows rapidly while feeding on the
cicada,
completing development in less than 2 weeks. It spins a cocoon
and
remains in the cell until the next spring. A cicada killer sting
causes sharp pain that may last as long as a week, but these wasps are
not aggressive, and they sting only when provoked. The average
life
span of an adult female is only two weeks. |
