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The cicada is one of our most common yet innocuous insects that abounds in neighborhoods and country-side during the summer. They while away their days singing and breeding, yet from July to September they are savagely attacked by one of our largest wasps, the Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus).
Female cicada killers fly about in yards and along forest edges searching for adult cicadas. They frequently attack them on the wing and sting them until they become paralyzed. The cicada killers then take their prey to a 12 inch deep tunnel, often containing a right angle about mid-way, and deposit them in an expanded chamber at the end. After one or two are placed in a chamber, a female places an egg on one and plugs the tunnel entrance. The egg hatches and the larva has a living, though immobile, food source. The larva then pupates and emerges as an adult to repeat the cycle the following summer.
Obviously, the wasp gets its name from its choice of and method of acquiring larval food. The adults, however, feed on nectar as do most bees and wasps.
It is said that this species can be so abundant as to damage lawns with their tunnels, but the problem would be highly localized.
Cicada Killers are very large, having a total length of about an inch and a half. Their dark brown or black abdomen is adorned with yellow rings, making it a striking beast. Possibly due to their size and the amount of venom they can inject, they are considered one of our worst stinging insects.
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