Abnormally High Numbers of Cicada Killer Wasps
Abnormally High Numbers of Cicada Killer Wasps (video). Apparently the conditions are right in the Ohio area for extra Cicada Killer Wasps. Watch the video, it explains why. Don’t panic, but don’t play with them either.
Here’s some pictures on the What’s that Bug website.
Thanks to Roy for the link.
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
Comment by Gerry Bunker — July 22, 2007 @ 9:50 pm