Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Attack of the Cicada Killer




My co-worker Rick Gardner, one of the best botanists in the State of Ohio, was botanizing recently at Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve in Adams County, Ohio, when he heard a cicada buzzing on the ground. "What could be happening?" he must have thought. Sure enough, when he moved in for a closer inspection, a cicada was being viscously attacked by a female cicada killer wasp (most likely Sphecius speciosus, but I'm not expert on wasps!) He captured this excellent video of the attack.

Here are a few things that I have learned about these creatures, mostly from Prof. Chuck Holliday's Cicada Killer Page:

-Females dig burrows in sandy soils.

-Females catch and stun cicadas by stinging them and slashing their throats, as this individual is doing.

-Males cannot sting.

-The females carry back the stunned cicada to their nests, put them in an individual cell, lay an egg in the cicada, then cover the cell.

-A grub hatches in a few days and feeds on the cicada (i am unclear at which point the cicada actually dies, however, I'm guessing this occurs after it gets sealed off by the female).

- The cicada killer spends only 10% of its lifetime as an adult.

- Its life cylce is completed in one year.

- They emerge as adults just before annual cicada start flying, therefore they are not predators on periodical cicadas, which hatch much earlier in the year.

-They range throughout the eastern United States.

I only recently learned about this species thanks to a hike led by Jim Bissell in northern Ohio. A group of us encountered a sandy lawn on the floodplain of the Vermillion River that had hundreds of cicada killers flying low above the ground, and we even found a paralyzed swamp cicada that had been dropped. Perhaps the most interesting thing about seeing this species in real life is realizing just how huge they are. Aren't insects fascinating?

Tom

8 comments:

  1. How creepy! What a vicious attack! Interesting video!

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  2. I have just scrolled down your blog. Very nice. I'll be back :-)

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  3. Tom: Cool attack vedio, those wasps can be tough.
    I have an award for you on my sight.

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  4. Very, very creepy!

    I wandered over here to congratulate you on your win at The Fishing Guy's blog (MUST SEE AWARD). Congratulations and now I see why you were selected! I love your blog!


    Blessings!
    Lacy

    RazorFamilyFarms.com
    NEWS at Razor Family Farms (GRIT.com)

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  5. Very interesting and educational... Do cicadas sting or bite?

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  6. The attack was horrible and the other stuff made me sea sick but all in all you have some amazing things on here.

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  7. Wow...how fascinating & horrible. Like a train wreck!

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  8. Mary-

    Thank you, I'm glad you like it.

    Ivar- Thanks for visiting, and stop back any time.

    Tom- Thanks so much for the award, and thanks for directing new people to learn about the nature of Ohio.

    Razor- Thanks a bunch, please stop back.

    Megan- I think they only have a big sucking mouthpart used to extract tree sap.

    Thanks Dot. And thanks for Sky Watch!

    Thanks Lana- Yeah, that is certainly an interesting way of describing this situation!

    Tom

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