They're Back!

They are back! The cicada killers are invading our lawn once again. Last year was the first that they appeared at our house and they really dug up the lawn in our backyard. I worked hard to replant grass and this year it looked back to normal once again. But now they are back. Most folks don't know what I am even talking about. So here is some information about this unusual wasp. Adult eastern cicada killer wasps are large, 0.6 to 2.0 in long, robust wasps with hairy, reddish and black areas on the thorax (middle part), and are black to reddish brown marked with light yellow stripes on the abdominal (rear) segments. The wings are brownish. Cicada killer females use their sting to paralyze their prey (cicadas) rather than to defend their nests. Adults feed on flower nectar and other plant sap exudates. Adults emerge in summer, typically beginning around late June or early July and continuing throughout the summer months. They are present in a given area for 60 to 75 days, until mid-September. The large females are commonly seen in mid-to-late summer skimming around lawns seeking good sites to dig burrows and searching shrubs and trees for cicadas. The males are more often seen in groups, vigorously challenging one another for position on the breeding aggregation from which they emerged, and generally pursuing anything that moves or flies within proximity. It is not unusual to see two or three male wasps locked together in midair combat, the aggregate adopting an erratic and uncontrolled flight path until one of the wasps breaks away Females may share a burrow, digging their own nest cells off the main tunnel. A burrow is 6 - 10 in. deep and about 1.2 in. wide. The female dislodges the soil with her jaws and pushes loose soil behind her as she backs out of the burrow using her hind legs, which are equipped with special spines that help her push the dirt behind her. The excess soil pushed out of the burrow forms a mound with a trench through it at the burrow entrance. After digging a nest chamber in the burrow, female cicada killers capture cicadas, paralyzing them with a sting; the cicadas then serve as food to rear their young. After paralyzing a cicada, the female wasp straddles it and takes off toward her burrow; this return flight to the burrow is difficult for the wasp because the cicada is often more than twice her weight. After putting the cicada in the nest cell, the female deposits an egg on the cicada and closes the cell with dirt. Male eggs are laid on a single cicada but female eggs are given two or sometimes three cicadas; this is because the female wasp is twice as large as the male and must have more food. New nest cells are dug as necessary off the main burrow tunnel and a single burrow may eventually have 10 to 20 cells. The egg hatches in one or two days, and the cicadas serve as food for the grub. The larvae complete their development in about 2 weeks. Overwintering occurs as a mature larva within an earth-coated cocoon. Pupation occurs in the nest cell in the spring and lasts 25 to 30 days. There is only one generation per year and no adults overwinter. It is an incredible creation of God - I just wish that we could view it somewhere other than in our yard. Apparently there is no practical way to kill them or get rid of them. We have checked with several experts and they don't have a solution except to put up with them - while they dig up our lawn. However we did find a site on the internet that suggested swatting them with a tennis racket or a baseball bat. However that just stuns them. You really then need to crush them with something hard to complete the job. So if you go by our house and see us taking our swings in the backyard, you know what we are doing. And it really is a great way to improve your coordination and get some exercise several times a day. Come on over and try it. We don't charge for this recreation.