These critters like to excavate underground dens in the lawn. These tunnels are not insignificant. The females which are as big as my little finger dig out a one inch diameter hole generating a mound of soil that would put any self respecting mole to shame.
Once the burrow is complete she will hunt down a cicada and paralyze it with a sting. It's quite a sight to see her struggling move an inert body of equal size from who knows how far away over a jungle-like terrain and into the hole. With the zombie cicada safely stowed she lays an egg in it and seals it in a chamber and continues the hunt. The larvae will emerge in a couple of weeks to feed on the zombie cicada and turn into a pupa to emerge the following summer. The females only live for about a month before succumbing to exhaustion.
With the females doing all the heavy lifting apparently the only function males perform is to stake out a territory and attempt to mate with anything that flies by. Hey ladies don't blame us, it's Nature's plan.
Next month I'll fill in the burrows and scatter some grass seed on the bare spots to cover up the evidence. I'd better plan for next year though. Last year there was only a half dozen burrows compared to twenty this year. Next year it could be fifty or more. Time to get proactive here.
...to be continued.
