Comments on: Abnormally High Numbers of Cicada Killer Wasps http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/2007/07/19/abnormally-high-numbers-of-cicada-killer-wasps/ Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world. Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:25:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gerry Bunker http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/2007/07/19/abnormally-high-numbers-of-cicada-killer-wasps/comment-page-1/#comment-22237 Gerry Bunker Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:50:23 +0000 http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/2007/07/19/abnormally-high-numbers-of-cicada-killer-wasps/#comment-22237 What a way to cause un-necessary panic in the public with that drivel. I have been studying these wasps for 3 years now and I can tell you I have never been stung. These wasps are so non-aggressive that you can lay yourself down on a lek of cicada killers and never get stung. BTW a lek is a gathering place where males and females come together to mate. The males, while having a barb that looks like a stinger at the end of their abdomen, contains no venom whatsoever. Their job is just to mate with the females and to chase all other males out of their territory. I have been helping professor Chuck Holliday, who basically wrote the book on Cicada Killer behavior by collecting 40 male specimens. I collected 30 today (7/22/07) while standing on a lek and netting them, then placing them by hand in specimen jars. I wasn't stung at all!! Saying that these things swarm is untrue as Cicada Killers do not swarm. http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/cicadakillerhome.html While its true that cicada killer females contain stingers with venom, that venom is so species specific that you would be hard pressed to A. get a female to sting you and B. if you do get stung you would probably feel a mild numbness and C. the only way you could get stung is by accident. Maybe by stepping on one. So, in closing, don't panic. Cicada killers are non-aggressive towards humans. All the males want to do is have sex with the females. All the females want to do is make burrows, go get a cicada and lay their eggs on it. If you get industrious and have a few hours to kill. Pull up a chair by a cicada killer burrow and watch a female bring in a cicada. It's truly amazing to watch. http://www.mechaworx.com/Cicada/cicadakillerwasps.asp What a way to cause un-necessary panic in the public with that drivel. I have been studying these
wasps for 3 years now and I can tell you I have never been stung. These wasps are so non-aggressive
that you can lay yourself down on a lek of cicada killers and never get stung. BTW a lek is a
gathering place where males and females come together to mate.

The males, while having a barb that looks like a stinger at the end of their abdomen, contains
no venom whatsoever. Their job is just to mate with the females and to chase all other males out
of their territory.

I have been helping professor Chuck Holliday, who basically wrote the book on Cicada Killer behavior
by collecting 40 male specimens. I collected 30 today (7/22/07) while standing on a lek and netting
them, then placing them by hand in specimen jars. I wasn’t stung at all!! Saying that these things
swarm is untrue as Cicada Killers do not swarm.

http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/cicadakillerhome.html

While its true that cicada killer females contain stingers with venom, that venom is so species
specific that you would be hard pressed to A. get a female to sting you and B. if you do get stung
you would probably feel a mild numbness and C. the only way you could get stung is by accident. Maybe
by stepping on one.

So, in closing, don’t panic. Cicada killers are non-aggressive towards humans. All the males want to
do is have sex with the females. All the females want to do is make burrows, go get a cicada and lay
their eggs on it. If you get industrious and have a few hours to kill. Pull up a chair by a cicada
killer burrow and watch a female bring in a cicada. It’s truly amazing to watch.

http://www.mechaworx.com/Cicada/cicadakillerwasps.asp

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