Cicada Killers!

While visiting my Mom, her neighbors, David and Maria, called me over to look at strange mounds in their newly graded yard. It was obvious by the U-shaped dirt around the hole that these were the nests of one of our largest wasps – the Cicada Killers. Cicada Killers are seen in early summer. After mating, the female wasp digs a burrow about six inches deep in the soil. Inside the burrow, she will make several cells, or small oval-shaped chambers.

This wasp lives at the edges of forests, in gardens, and in waste places. Adult Cicada Killers eat very little, getting their energy from flower nectar. Larvae eat cicadas.

As we were looking at the neat mounds of dirt, a female Cicada Killer arrived with her prey. The wasp is able to carry a cicada that may weigh three times her own weight! One of the Cicada Killers landed about a foot from the opening into her nesting chambers. It was amazing to see the persistence of this insect in getting the cicada into her burrow. Other female would land at the opening and quickly ship the cicada into her burrow.

The usual story is that, once the female finds a cicada, she will sting it and paralyze the insect. Then the wasp carrys the cicada back to the burrow. She will then put the cicada in one of the cells and lay an egg on it. The female wasp will continue hunting cicadas until she has filled the cells of her burrow. Each cicada body gets its own egg.

In two or three days, a wasp larva will hatch from the egg. The larva immediately begins eating the cicada. When the larva finishes the cicada, leaving only the outer shell (about two weeks), it will then spin a cocoon and hibernate until the following spring. In the spring, the larva will leave its cocoon and become a pupae (resting stage). From the pupa, an adult Cicada Killer will hatch. It will dig its way out of the ground and look for a mate.

Male wasps die shortly after mating. Females die after laying all of their eggs.

Predators of Cicada Killers are the same as those of other wasps, including birds, shrews, and mantids.

Here are a few shots of David and Maria’s Cicada Killer nests. David has counted 13 nests in the small area by their driveway.