Cicada Killer Wasp

The cicada killer wasp is a large solitary wasp in the family Crabronidae (digger wasps), notable for being among the biggest wasps found in North America. Unlike social wasps such as yellowjackets or hornets, cicada killers live and nest individually, with each female excavating and provisioning her own underground burrow rather than cooperating in a shared colony.

As the common name suggests, this wasp specializes in hunting annual cicadas, which the female paralyzes with a sting and then drags or flies back to her burrow to serve as living food for her developing larva. Despite their large size and loud buzzing flight, cicada killers focus their energy and stinging behavior almost entirely on subduing cicada prey.

Ecologically, cicada killers play a role in regulating cicada populations and are notable for their impressive provisioning behavior, in which a female wasp can carry prey nearly her own size or larger back to a burrow, sometimes gliding from height to compensate for the weight.

• Large, robust body with a black or dark rust-colored thorax and abdomen marked by bold yellow spots or bands.
• Reddish-brown to amber-tinted wings, proportionally large for the body.
• Head is broad with large eyes, and legs are long and reddish in color.
• Females are noticeably larger than males and possess a stinger used to subdue prey.
• Lookalikes include European hornets and other large wasps, but the combination of very large size, yellow-spotted (rather than banded) abdomen, and habit of digging burrows in bare soil is distinctive; often confused with the invasive northern giant hornet, though ranges and markings differ.

Found throughout much of the United States east of the Rockies and into parts of Mexico and Central America, favoring areas of well-drained, sandy, or bare soil such as garden edges, sunny slopes, sports fields, and along sidewalks or driveways where females excavate nesting burrows. Adults are active during the warmer months of summer, coinciding with the seasonal emergence of annual cicadas.

Females are solitary hunters that dig branching underground burrows, then seek out and sting cicadas to paralyze them before hauling the prey back to provision individual brood cells within the burrow. Males, though often seen patrolling and defending territory around nesting areas with aerial displays, lack a stinger. Adults also feed on nectar and plant sap for their own energy needs, making them occasional visitors to flowers.

Each female wasp digs a burrow and provisions individual cells with one or more paralyzed cicadas, laying a single egg on the prey in each cell before sealing it off. The egg hatches into a larva that feeds on the provided cicada, then spins a cocoon and overwinters as a pupa within the burrow. Adults emerge the following summer, timed to coincide with the annual emergence of cicadas, completing one generation per year.