This paralyzes the cicada, which the wasps then carry back in flight to their subterranean lairs. Females are large, measuring up to an inch and a half in length, and they prey exclusively upon cicadas, which they find, grapple with, and inject with venom. What many people are actually seeing, according to entomologist Justin Schmidt at the University of Arizona, is a harmless native wasp with an equally fierce name: the cicada killer. They are currently confined to the far northwestern corner of Washington State, in part due to a targeted campaign to find them and eradicate their nests.Įven so, the discovery of these aggressive, two-inch-long insects known for decimating entire honeybee colonies led to concern throughout the United States, with many people misidentifying local wasps as murder hornets. You may have heard of “murder hornets,” or Asian giant hornets, which made international headlines after a small number were spotted in the Pacific Northwest in 20.
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