By April Reese


University of Georgia

Measuring almost two inches long, sporting yellow markings
across
a robust body and patrolling the ground with red wings and
yellow
legs, cicada killer wasps look intimidating. Although they look
fierce and threatening, they’re more buzz than bite.

“Although these wasps are very large, they usually ignore
people,” said Nancy Hinkle, an extension entomologist with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences. “The
individuals patrolling the ground are males, which cannot sting
and are harmless. Females are rarely seen because they are busy
hunting cicadas and must be provoked to sting.”

Lone flyers

Female cicada killers, also called giant cicada killers or
sand
hornets, use their stingers to paralyze cicadas, noisy insects
that live in nearby trees.

“As big as female cicada killers are, they still have a hard
time
lumbering through the air with a cicada, so often they paralyze
it, drop it from the tree, and then drag it along the ground,”
Hinkle said.

“Females are rarely seen because they are busy up in the
trees,
looking for cicadas to bring back and bury in the ground for
their larvae to feed on,” she explained. “While the females are
capable of stinging, they are shy and must be forced to
sting.”

People who have caught female cicada killer wasps claim the
sting
is less painful than that of a wasp or bee, she added.

Cicada killers are solitary wasps, unlike most other wasps,
such
as hornets, yellow jackets and paper wasps who live in social
groups. Cicada killers live in solitary units where each female
digs her own burrow, six to 10 inches deep and as much as six
inches horizontally, to lay her eggs.

They prefer to burrow in well-drained or sandy soils, making
a
horseshoe shaped mound beside the hole. Each burrow can have as
many as 20 eggs, each in an individual cell, and each egg can
have as many three cicadas to feed on in its cell.

“Cicada killer wasps show up around the first of August in
Georgia and may be seen for about a month,” she said. “By
September, adult cicada killers will have mated, provisioned
their burrows with cicadas for the larvae, laid their eggs, and
died.”

Cultural
control

Although virtually harmless, cicada killers can invade your
home
landscape and make a mess with their horseshoe dens. If control
is necessary, locate the nests during the daylight hours and
treat after dark when female wasps are in their nests. Remember
to wear protective clothing.

“These strikingly colored wasps are particularly noticeable
because of their size and the fact that they fly close to the
ground,” Hinkle said.

Before deciding to do away with the insects, Hinkle urges
you to
remember, “as is apparent from their name, they are predators on
cicadas, so they provide good biological control of these pests
of ornamental trees and shrubs.”

The best control is prevention. Because cicada killers nest
in
open areas without vegetation, healthy turf won’t be attacked.
The best way to prevent having cicada killers around is to
cultivate a lush healthy lawn without bare patches.

“So, remember, the more aggressive cicada killers are males,
which are all show and no substance. They hope to be able to
scare you away by bluffing, but when it comes down to it,
there’s
nothing they can do to you – or any other predator,” she said.
“The females are otherwise occupied and can’t be distracted, so
pose no threat. Because they are so innocuous – and so
beneficial
– it is best to leave them alone and just enjoy their beauty and
fascinating behaviors.”