Say hello to the Eastern Cicada Killer

Although they've been described as solitary, each year our front lawn swarms with them; females looking for cicadas and new nest sites, and males looking for females. They reek havoc with the lawn with their ground nests, and although they are considered a beneficial insect, we do attempt to eradicate them by spraying them in their burrows. Our hope is to destroy the eggs along with the adults.

Even without our assistance, they lead a short life above ground. The females, of which this is one, contain the stingers and are all in all, quite fearsome looking.

This female was caught dragging a cicada along the ground towards her nest. More information on this wasp can be found here.

This is a statement made by the eradicator that I thought was worth sharing: "They're not very aggressive, even when I'm killing them."