Wildlife Sightings
Yesterday, Toby and I took our lunch (bagels) in Riverside Park, hoping for the entertainment of squirrels. While we did see a few bushy-tailed critters (one squeaking at us, presumably because we were too close and/or not feeding it), they were not the highlight.
What caught our attention was a giant wasp! It was about 1.5 inches long (EEP!) and carrying a cicada, which was wider and longer than itself. Well, perhaps "carrying" is not the correct word. The wasp was dragging the cicada and fluttering its wings desperately. We then watched it crawl through a hole into its burrow.
After some internet searching (on Toby's part, as I'm squeamish with mere photos of bugs), we learned that these wasps are Cicada-Killers. Females stun cicadas and bring them back to their burrows, lay eggs in these paralyzed beetle-y things, and the larvae get to feast on the cicadas until they pupate. Since cicadas are rather heavy compared to the wasp, she drags the cicada up a tree trunk, then drops/flies with the cicada and hopefully land somewhere near her burrow. That would explain the pair zipping by our shoulders on their way to the burrow across the pathway from our bench.
One website said that the female wasp lays only one egg in each cicada, but another said there were usually only two cicadas in a burrow. So I'm guessing that one of these is incorrect, as I imagine wasps laying many more than just 2 eggs!
Interestingly, there is a another insect that parasitizes the cicada-killer wasps: Cowkillers. Female 'velvet ants' find a cicada-killer wasp's burrow, and lays HER eggs on the cicada-killer's larvae, so that the cowkiller larvae feed on their hosts! (Notice a pattern here?) Cowkillers have rather strong exoskeletons, according to the website Toby found, and emit audible screams when stepped upon. These exoskelelons are to repel any wasp attack should the cicada-killer return while the cowkiller is still laying her eggs. Cowkillers apparently also have terrible stings, perhaps explaining the origin of their name.
Anyway, I won't be posting pictures here (we didn't have our camera in any case), but here's an interesting website if you want to know more about insects:
What's That Bug?
As for me, I hope to avoid running into any cowkillers, and though I can't stand cicadas (do they ever make my skin crawl!), I'd rather not mess with a 1.5-inch wasp either!
What caught our attention was a giant wasp! It was about 1.5 inches long (EEP!) and carrying a cicada, which was wider and longer than itself. Well, perhaps "carrying" is not the correct word. The wasp was dragging the cicada and fluttering its wings desperately. We then watched it crawl through a hole into its burrow.
After some internet searching (on Toby's part, as I'm squeamish with mere photos of bugs), we learned that these wasps are Cicada-Killers. Females stun cicadas and bring them back to their burrows, lay eggs in these paralyzed beetle-y things, and the larvae get to feast on the cicadas until they pupate. Since cicadas are rather heavy compared to the wasp, she drags the cicada up a tree trunk, then drops/flies with the cicada and hopefully land somewhere near her burrow. That would explain the pair zipping by our shoulders on their way to the burrow across the pathway from our bench.
One website said that the female wasp lays only one egg in each cicada, but another said there were usually only two cicadas in a burrow. So I'm guessing that one of these is incorrect, as I imagine wasps laying many more than just 2 eggs!
Interestingly, there is a another insect that parasitizes the cicada-killer wasps: Cowkillers. Female 'velvet ants' find a cicada-killer wasp's burrow, and lays HER eggs on the cicada-killer's larvae, so that the cowkiller larvae feed on their hosts! (Notice a pattern here?) Cowkillers have rather strong exoskeletons, according to the website Toby found, and emit audible screams when stepped upon. These exoskelelons are to repel any wasp attack should the cicada-killer return while the cowkiller is still laying her eggs. Cowkillers apparently also have terrible stings, perhaps explaining the origin of their name.
Anyway, I won't be posting pictures here (we didn't have our camera in any case), but here's an interesting website if you want to know more about insects:
What's That Bug?
As for me, I hope to avoid running into any cowkillers, and though I can't stand cicadas (do they ever make my skin crawl!), I'd rather not mess with a 1.5-inch wasp either!
posted by blumaroo at
10:22 AM
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