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A cicada killer wasp found in Sandy Springs

You may have noticed these huge wasps hovering about the ground in recent weeks. If you take time to observe them you might even see them dragging cicadas into their underground burrows, which resemble ant mounds. 

Meet the eastern cicada killer, scientific name Sphecius speciousus (spoken aloud it sounds like a spell cast from a student at Hogwarts). Despite their large size (males are about 1.25” and females 2”) and rather menacing common name, these beneficial pollinators are actually gentle giants and are solitary insects, meaning that each burrow houses a single female. There are often many burrows in one area, a nesting aggregation. (This is quite different from the underground burrow of yellow jackets, social wasps that live in colonies of 5,000.) The pile of dirt you see by a cicada killer nest is what the female has excavated while digging her burrow, a tunnel about 12-18 inches long.

The pile of dirt you see is the excavation a female made when digging her nest in Sandy Springs. The actual entrance is under the holly bush on top of the curb.

You have to work hard to get stung by a cicada killer. First of all, only the females have stingers which are used not to defend their nests, but to stun their prey which is primarily cicadas. Stings from cicada killers are known to not be nearly as painful as other stinging wasps and bees. You have to catch one and really make it miserable before she will sting you. Many of the cicada killers you see flying around the burrows are stingless males, defending their territory from other males, and are harmless to humans and pets. 

While the female appears enormous to us, it’s quite impressive that she is able to stun and then  fly carrying a giant cicada. Back at the burrow she drags the still alive but stunned cicada into the burrow and lays an egg with it, then seals off that part of the nursery and repeats the process. In a few days the egg hatches and the larva feeds on the prey her mother has left. The baby wasp overwinters in her burrow and emerges next summer to start the cycle of life over again. The mama wasp can accommodate 5-15 offspring in her tunnel before she dies of old age in the fall. 

Cicada killers are native to North America and are beneficial pollinators. However, it can be easy to confuse them with a non-native and very troubling invasive wasp that has recently  taken up residence in the Savannah area, the yellow legged hornet, Vespa velutina. 

Vespa velutina is an Asian hornet that also has the common name the “bee hawk.” They made their way into Europe over 10 years ago and can decimate honey bee colonies. In France beekeepers report 30% losses due to these predators. The Georgia Department of Agriculture  and folks from the University of Georgia have been working tirelessly to find and eradicate nests since the first yellow legged hornets were spotted last summer in Savannah. Honey bees are crucial to Georgia’s agricultural industry and if the yellow legged hornets aren’t contained and eradicated it will be disastrous.

You may remember the news stories about “murder hornets” in Washington state in 2021. Those are Vespa mandarinia, the Asian giant hornet, are larger than the yellow legged hornets, but also can decimate a honey bee colony in no time flat. So far, efforts in the Pacific Northwest have kept them from taking hold. We can only hope the same proves to be true of the yellow legged hornets in Georgia.

What can you do? Educate yourself and your family about the things that live in your yard and pollinate your flowers. Many well-intentioned folks see cicada killers and yellow jackets, native insects that have yellow legs, and believe they are seeing the invasive Vespa velutina and report these sightings to the GDA. These well meaning efforts unnecessarily take up valuable time of those working hard to track down and exterminate the invasive nests. 

Whenever possible, leave insects alone. They provide all kinds of benefits for us, not only pollinating plants, but eating worms that eat our tomatoes! If they aren’t bothering you, don’t bother them.

This summer we have been experiencing “Cicadapalooza” a rare convergence of two types of cicada brood emerging at the same time. The last time this happened was in 1803! So it’s not surprising that the cicada killers are having a banner year. Let’s leave them to enjoy their musical prey and live another year.