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| Cicada exoskeleton. |
Have you seen any cicada exoskeletons (they look like
Garthim from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal) lately? I found one near my front porch last week. This time of year, with the cicadas (and their noise) come the topic of today's post- cicada killers. These large wasps can be startling to see when they fly around trees or low over the lawn. They reach about 1.5 inches in length with dusky wings, reddish-brown thorax and a yellow and black abdomen.
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| Cicada killer wasp. |
Females are pretty docile, but males are territorial and will fly at you until you leave their area. Only female wasps (and bees) can sting as the stinger is a modified egg-laying structure. The female cicada killers create burrows in the ground and then go off to sting cicadas. The cicadas are paralyzed by the sting and taken by the wasp back to the burrow where she digs a side tunnel, crams in the cicada and lays an egg on it. When the egg hatches, it will feed on the cicada provided.
That being said, cicada killers can be considered beneficial as they help to cut down on the cicada population. They can also be considered a pest since sometimes people will have holes all over the yard from the wasps' tunneling behavior. If you fall into the latter category and want to do something to manage the population, you can sprinkle a insecticidal dust over the holes and tamp it down with your shoe.
"red wasps" that everyone sees cruising around their backyard. Other species of paper wasps are reddish with yellow markings on the abdo
men. They construct an open faced paper-like nest that is an umbrella shape and hangs from a single stalk. Nests are often constructed under eaves of houses, on fences, etc. For management, spray the nest in the evening (wasps won't be out foraging for food then) with a wasp spray. Once the wasps are dead, knock down the nest and dispose of it.
These wasps look a bit like they've been on steroids since they are very large compared to most wasps we see in the backyard. It's a large wasp, about 1- 1 1/2", with yellow and black mark
ings. You may see them going in and out of holes in the ground. If you feel control is necessary, sprinkle holes with insecticidal dust and tamp them shut with your foot (make sure to wear shoes!!).
Mud daubers are another easily recognized wasp. These wasps come in a variety of colors, but all have a very thin thread-like waist with a bulbous abdomen on the end. The nest is constructed out of mud and can be found in attics, under eaves or on siding. I spent about an hour a few weeks ago watching mud daubers collect mud from and area of my yard that had been recently watered..yes, I'm a nerd! These wasps are pretty tame and you can usually just scrape the nest off with a putty knife if you feel you need to do something. I always like to crack a nest open to see what the wasps have been collecting from the yard. It's amazing how much they can cram in the nest.
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