Cicada killer wasps up close!

bugs4cy

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2009
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Story County
Sorry if this freaks some out, saw something pretty cool today that I'd thought I'd share. For a few years, we've had a growing population of cicada killer wasps living the high life in a couple of our flower beds and our lawn for about a month in the summer. We were putting together a new grill in front of the the garage this morning, and witnessed three wasps bringing in their prey. We were going crazy trying to take pictures. Naturally, the good camera didn't want to work so I grabbed photos with my phone, though, not as good as the camera would have taken. One wasp, with a cicada in her grasp, crawled up the full 6 ft height of my husband so she could take off again from a high vantage point to make it to her underground tunnel to deposit the cicada. He handled it pretty well, being very careful to not let her go up his shorts or sleeves. When she started to climb up the back of his head, his threshold for patience with his entomologist-wife grew a little short.
:eek:

Cicada killers are harmless. One of my mentors says he's never heard of anyone being stung, and his career is over 40 years in length.

The female cicada killers capture a live cicada, paralyze it, place it in an underground tunnel, and lay an egg on it. The cicada is lunch for the larva when it hatches.

We've become totally at ease around these scary looking insects. They even fly between our legs when we walk through the area where they've dug their tunnels. Today they would buzz by inches from our heads as we worked in the driveway.

It's experiences like this that drew me to the study of insects.

This is my fave cicada killer website.

I hope the pics turn out. I've not posted images on CF before and am taking a blind swing at using Flickr.

photostream

photostream
 

bugs4cy

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Jun 7, 2009
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Story County
GA! How the hades do I post pics? If I use the web address from Facebook it doesn't work, so this time I used the address from a Flickr album that is open to public viewing. Why do the internets hate me?

It's a cool pic - it's a close up of the wasp marching up my husband's leg while holding on to her cicada.
 

klamath632

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Nov 19, 2011
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Those are some wild pics. I have to imagine there have been some misunderstandings between our species and theirs in the past. My first instinct without knowing they are harmless would be to stomp on those beautiful bugs.
 

Zyklon

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Sep 20, 2011
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My parents actually just found a whole bunch of them on their lawn today. My Mom wants to get rid of them but I like them because they get rid of cicadas, which annoy the heck out of me. We've had them at work for years and no one's ever gotten stung so I figure they're pretty much harmless. Although, I hear if you do get stung by them, it's like getting hit with a lawn dart.
 

madcityCY

Well-Known Member
Nov 29, 2006
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Madison, WI
Wow. I think I have seen a few of those - always figured they were stingers... I'll try not to swat at the air while screaming like a little girl anymore.
 

intrepid27

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Oct 9, 2006
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Marion, IA
Holy crap. Did you drug your husband to get him to hold still? I'd have grabbed a big "whacking stick" and gave it a couple of good whacks.
 

simply1

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Jun 10, 2009
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Holy crap. Did you drug your husband to get him to hold still? I'd have grabbed a big "whacking stick" and gave it a couple of good whacks.
For me it would have been paralysis by fear. :twitcy:
 

bugs4cy

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2009
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Story County
You're right ... possums are another story. 1999 was a tough year because of a possum. His shoulder will never be the same and it's a well-known fact that I wil never roof again with my father-in-law because my husband's arm is in a sling.
:twitcy:
He doesn't like spiders. I hate snakes. We have a deal that secures marital harmony = I dispatch of spiders and he clubs the snakes. Insects don't faze us. In fact, we have 3 bee hives. We blog about the bees because so many people ask us about it. This is our second year of the bees, first for the blog. Idiots Keeping Bees.
 

azepp

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Dec 9, 2009
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Counting down the years until my kids are older and I can move out of town and keep some bees... Thanks for the blog link.
 

bugs4cy

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2009
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Story County
We live in a small town but keep the bees outside of town on a prairie - not owned by us. We give the landowners honey and it works out great. Did you know the Iowa Honey Producers Assn offers beginning beekeeping classes all over Iowa the first couple months of the year?
:yes:
 

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