CICADA KILLERS

It's that time of year again. The Cicada Killer wasps are back. Here's a little info about these guys (and gals) and what they are all about.

You've probably seen these buzzing around before, especially around sand traps and putting greens.  They are Eastern Cicada Killer wasps, and as their name implies, they kill cicadas.

Here's a website with more information: LINK

From the website above:

The female cicada killer on the right is carrying a paralyzed annual cicada (Tibicen linnei) back to her burrow, where she will put it in a nest cell, lay an egg on it and seal the cell. A grub will hatch from the egg in a few days, eat the cicada and overwinter underground in a hard cocoon which it weaves. It will pupate in the spring, hatch in July or August, dig its way to the surface and live above ground for 2-6 weeks; all adults die annually. The cicada killer has adapted its life cycle to be in synchrony with that of its hosts: Like the several species of “annual” cicadas with which it feeds its young, a cicada killer spends over 90% of its life underground as a larva. Like most hunting and parasitic wasps, the cicada killer is a beneficial insect; it exerts a measure of biological control on cicadas, some species of which damage deciduous trees by laying eggs under the soft bark of the new growth on the trees’ terminal branches. Because they emerge each year in mid-July, cicada killers are not significant predators of periodical (13- and 17-year) cicadas, which emerge in May and June and die off by mid-July.

Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males but they have no sting. Although they appear to attack anything which moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything which might be a female cicada killer ready to mate.   (sound familiar?)  Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers don't land on people and attempt to sting. If handled roughly females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen.

For us, the only real problem they cause is the burrowing in our greens and sand bunkers.  They apparently provide a benefit by keeping the cicada population in check, and they don't typically sting humans.  And now you know more about cicada killer wasps than you ever thought you would.  :)