![]() ![]() When females emerge, they mate once and then begin to prepare nest burrows, which can be up to 40 inches deep and include about 16 individual chambers. Although these inspections may be intimidating, male wasps cannot sting. They perch on vegetation or stones and make brief, hovering flights to inspect newcomers, including people, pets, and other wasps. ![]() Male wasps appear a week or two before females, and spend their time feeding at flowers or sap and establishing territories. These are usually sparsely vegetated, southeast-facing slopes or unmortared retaining walls, with plentiful cicadas in nearby deciduous trees. Even so, cicada killers are often found in groups, since many wasps are attracted to the same suitable nesting areas. Only European hornets rival cicada killers in size and bulk, but their color patterns differ, with hornets displaying more yellow on the abdomen.Ĭicada killer burrows are also characteristic, particularly when built on flat ground, where a U-shaped mound of soil accumulates around the nest entrance during construction.Ĭicada killers are solitary, meaning that each female typically builds her own nest and hunts prey to feed her own offspring (unlike yellow jackets, hornets, and paper wasps, which live in social colonies). The head and thorax are rust colored to dark brown, and the wings a transparent russet. Most striking is the black abdomen with three complex, yellow bands. Males weigh about half as much.Īdult cicada killers can be recognized by their size, body shape, and distinctive color patterns. Cicada killers are the largest solitary wasps in the state, with females occasionally reaching 1.5 inches long and weighing about a gram (the weight of a shelled almond). In North Carolina, they generally appear in July and remain active throughout the rest of the summer. Eastern cicada killers, Sphecius speciosus, occur throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and in Mexico, where they are common in urban and suburban areas.
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