Top view of a Cicada Killer Wasp in flight in central Arlington Heights, Saturday, August 10, 2013.
Cicada Killer Wasps are currently active in Arlington Heights, in the Midwest, in Eastern States, and south toward Central America and Mexico.
The species is actually the Eastern Cicada Killer, distinctly black and yellow with a small red spot on the back behind the head.
Adults emerge in mid-summer, typically beginning around late June or early July and die off in September or October. They are present in a given area for 60 to 75 days, usually until mid-September. The large females are commonly seen flying low around lawns and ground cover seeking good sites to dig burrows and searching for cicadas in trees and taller shrubs.
Cicada Killer infestations that burrow in lawns produce reddish-brown spots in the lawns.
The Cicada Killers generally fly away when in the vicinity of humans, and generally do not act aggressively toward humans. The females sting, but the males do not — they don’t have a stinger. The males tend to act more aggressively.
Cicadas are the pray of the Cicada Killer Wasp, which bring Cicadas back to the nest in the ground, or sometimes in planters. The wasps larvae feed on the Cicada.
Cicada Killer Wasps are sometimes mistaken for European Hornets or Asian Giant Hornets because of their large size. The European Hornets and Asian Gian Hornets do not have black on their bodies.
Last year an Asian Giant Hornet or a European Hornet was spotted in Arlington Heights in the same area where Cicada Killer Wasps were nesting. they are yellow-orange, orange, and brown. Western Cicada Killer Wasps are reddish-brown.
See also …
Facebook.com/AsianGiantHornet
The Cardinal Deadly Asian Giant Hornet Spotted in Arlington Heights, Not Cicada Killer Wasp …
Side view of a Cicada Killer Wasp in flight in central Arlington Heights, Saturday, August 10, 2013.
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