We get these, I am normally tolerant of all the bugs here in the boonies EXCEPT these. Big nasty creepy things. But the worst part is how they fly- VERY menacing. Do. Not. Like.
-Stella


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The name is fitting. Females are large, measuring up to an inch and a half in length, and they prey exclusively upon cicadas, which they find, grapple with, and inject with venom. This paralyzes the cicada, which the wasps then carry back in flight to their subterranean lairs. Since mid-July, cicada killers have been emerging from their underground burrows and buzzing around people’s yards.

Cicada killers go after the more dependable seasonal cicadas, not the periodical species, such as Brood X, which descended upon the eastern U.S. in May. Though there are four species of cicada killer in North America, all of them are similar in appearance and behavior.