June 16 and June 27, 2010. I'm going to tell you a true story about a young mother. She needed to feed her babies, but didn't have resources at hand to feed them. So, she went out cruising. She went here. She went there. Around her, there were the sounds of unattached lovers calling for each other. She decided to approach one of these callers; perhaps to help her with her problem. So she picked one, got close, and suddenly stabbed it. She immobilized the young lover and she brought it back to her home and to her offspring. By then, she'd gone beyond acceptable human behavior. But her actions then went from apparently violent to openly horrific. She dragged the lover into a dark room...
...and left one of her offspring with it...
...and then, she locked the room.
She left her young one to eat the immobilized lover--while the lover still alive--or else the baby would starve to death.

I'm speaking, of course, about a Cicada Killer Wasp. Of course they don't follow acceptable human behavior. They aren't human. The females dig tunnels and and then chambers in loose sand or dirt. Then they patrol, looking for Cicadas--which are buzzing out their mating calls. I have read that the wasps will sometimes attack standing Cicadas, or take them as they fly. Then they sting a Cicada, which paralyzes it, and carry it back to burrows that the wasps have dug. There, they will place the paralyzed Cicada in a chamber, place an egg on it, and then wall off the chamber. The egg hatches, and the hatched larva eats the Cicada--which has been kept "fresh" because it's paralyzed and still alive. I've linked to a great website with lots of information about Cicada Killer Wasps on my other page. I've also found another study of Cicada Killers that can be downloaded in .pdf format. This is the link:  Life History and Habits of the Cicada Killer in Ohio .

Some of y'all might remember that I posted some slow-motion video clips of these amazing insects flying around last year. That material can be seen on this page below. This year, they hatched in the same garden, and this time I decided to try to catch some as they flew back to their burrows with prey for their young. It's not easy, since they return from any direction and are really fast--they just appear and hit the burrow. I got two clips, one just usable, and one pretty good. Today's RICKUBISCAM is a cropped frame capture from the newer video clip. The links appear below the images.

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                        A QUICK DROP IN                                     HOVERING AROUND A BIT
           Cicada Killer with Cicada clip one (wmv. 4.8 mb)    Cicada Killer with Cicada clip two (wmv. 10 mb)
We've gotten quite a bit of rain in the weeks after I shot the video clips, and I haven't seen any more Cicada Killer activity at the cistern (where I've been filming these) for a while.

05/31/2009-06/21/2009-  In a garden near the Visitor Center at BBSP, there is a large, dirt-filled, brick cistern in the ground. Sometime around the end of May this year, a group of large yellow and black wasps began to fly around the garden and in and out of the cistern. They were Cicada Killer wasps, and most of the wasps patrolling around the garden were males.  The males hatch a bit earlier (up to 2 weeks earlier) than the females, so they pick perching spots and then leave those spots for short flying patrols. They look for females, and also will fly after each other. It can be pretty busy, and we had a number of park visitors coming in alarmed about the "wasps' nest" in the garden. What a great intrepretive opportunity--expecially since the wasps posed almost no threat at all. The males have a sharp protrustion at the end of their abdomen. This is NOT a stinger, but just a false one. Only the females can sting, and they usually sting Cicadas to paralyze them so they can be carried back to the burrows. A female can be pushed until it stings, but they are not aggressive.  Besides lacking this false stinger ( the females' operative one retracts), females can be identified by large "spurs" or paddles on their rear legs.
Since all this activity was going on, and the males would repetitively land, fly, and land again,  I was able to take some interesting pictures of these large wasps.  I approached one of the males as it perched on a post.  When it took off to chase another male, I put my hand on the post, and it perched on my hand. Today's RICKUBISCAM shot is a picture of the wasp on the post. Note: Most of the information I got about these wasps came from a web page (my insect guides didn't have much). That very excellent online source isProf. Chuck Holliday's Cicada Killer Page.  If you really want to learn about these wasps, visit his pages.

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  MALE CICADA KILLER WITH QUARTER  MALE CICADA KILLER WITH QUARTER  CICADA KILLER PERCHED ON MY HAND     - ON MY HAND FROM VIDEO CLIP
                                                                                                                                           Cicada Killer on my hand (slomo at end)wmv 9.3mb)

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         ON MY HAND CLOSER   ----    --    ON MY HAND EVEN CLOSER         THE FALSE STINGER (NON-RETRACTABLE)            todays RICKUBISCAM

 Directly below are some pictures I shot in 2003, showing a dead female Cicada killer. A co-worker brought it in to ask if I could identify it. These 3 pictures show the broad spurs (or paddles) that the female Cicada Killer has on her last pair of legs.  It is supposed that they help her dig.  The female will dig a burrow, then dig branching burrows. She will then fly off and return with a Cicada for the burrows. She will lay a single egg on a paralyzed Cicada. The egg will hatch and the larva will feed on the Cicada (kept "fresh" because it's still alive and not dead and rotting) until it cocoon . It overwinters in this form,and then pupates and then hatches in the spring.  The adults don't eat meat (preferring sweet plant juices), and don't live long (2 weeks for males, and 4 weeks for females).
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           PRETTY BIG WASP!----    --          THE SPURS ARE VISIBLE         ONE OF THE SPURS ON A REAR LEG

Finally, the 3 images below are frame grabs from some short video clips put together from footage of the wasps flying. I tried to catch females returning with Cicadas, but there were at least 3 burrows in the cistern, and I couldn't be sure where an incoming wasp would land.  When a female did return, she was landed and inside before I could bring the camera on her. I couldn't catch any of the midair collisions between males either. Remember, even though these wasps seem to be in a group--they are not acting cooperatively. They all are attracted to a preferred nesting site (and may have hatched there).
In my videos,  the subjects might move a bit out of frame, and a bit out of focus for two reasons. Even though capture was at 210 and 420 fps; and playback at 30 fps (about 1/7th or 1/14th that of realtime)--I shot in realtime. Those wasps are fast, and I had to try to keep them in frame as they flew. Slowed down, it looks like it might be easy. HA!  Also, once I'm shooting at that speed, focus is locked. If something moves to far in or out of my focus depth, then it blurs. Enough excuses. I can watch these over and over again. The wasps look beautiful at this speed. Very mechanical, too.
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  Cicada Killer at 210 fps wmv 7.6mbCicada Killers at 420 fps pt1 wmv 19.8mb Cicada Killers at 420 fps pt2 wmv 9.0mb

10/11/2006 (8/14/06; 8/10/06; 8/14/05)--I was talking to some Visitors to BBSP last Sunday. It turned out that they had recently moved from Colorado, and I had the opportunity to point out some of our local arthropods. As I did, I realized that I hadn't shown one of our more brightly-colored insects. It also has a nickname that might alarm some. So, here it is. I filmed some of this material in August of 2006, and some in August of 2005. This could indicate that they are more active at this time, but perhaps not.  -
At first glance, the insect in this image -   looks like an ant--a large, hairy ant. But actually, this insect is a wingless, solitary wasp. It's sometimes called a Red Velvet Ant (dasymutilla occidentalis). It is also known as a "Cowkiller". The first image below (ONE) shows the insect near a quarter. The next two clips show other views of the ant (TWO, THREE) inside a petri dish. I wasn't going to let it sting ME. The last two images below (FOUR, FIVE) are frames from short video clips. These images were shot inside, and the artificial lighting gives a "darker" cast to the red colors, and shows a slight iridescent sheen on the wasp. These were taken in 2005. There are two links below images FOUR and FIVE to the clips.
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              ONE                                           TWO                                        THREE                                          FOUR                                           FIVE
                                                                                                                                 COWKILLER IN DISH PT. 1  1.08MB    COWKILLER IN DISH PT. 2  1.5MB
According to A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects by Drees and Jackman (C) 1998 (pp. 282-283) This wingless form is the female. The males are marked differently, have wings, and don't sting (this is usually the case, since the stinger on many insects is a modified form of the ovipositor-a hollow structure used for laying eggs by many insects. Some use the ovipositor to drill into wood, or dirt, or other insects before laying eggs. This means that only females would have the ovipositor, and therefore, a stinger.) The females dig to the nesting chambers of ground-nesting bees. They eat a hole through the cocoon where they deposit an egg on the host larva. After hatching, the Cowkiller grub eats the host larva before finally developing into an adult. The female ant fights ferociously and has a painful sting. The name "Cowkiller" refers to the fact that this sting is very painful. So painful that it was said to be able to kill a cow. This is only figurative.
This year, I found a Cowkiller wandering through the grass while I was exercising at Memorial Park. Today's RICKUBISCAM is one of the few usable images I could get at that time. When this wasp breaks cover, or is disturbed, it can run VERY fast, and is hard to capture.  A few days later, I found another one working in the loose dirt under the Observation Tower at 40-Acre Lake.  Compared to the bright sunlight outside, it was a bit difficult to see in the shade under the deck.  I shot some video anyway.  The images below are frames from the video clips. The first clip (image SIX, below) shows the dasymutilla apparently foraging, and then burrowing. Since it is under cover, and I haven't disturbed it, the Cowkiller is moving relatively slowly. The next clip (image SEVEN, EIGHT, below) shows some more movement. Look at image EIGHT and you'll see a red circle. This shows an Antlion pit. In the second clip, it appears that the Antlion is either excavating its pit after the Cowkiller has collapsed it, or else it is trying to trap the Cowkiller (which seems quite optomistic to ME).
I noticed a number of other wasps digging in the area, and they appeared to be making nests. It may be possible that this dasymutilla occidentalis was looking for some of these finished nests to use.
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              SIX                                            SEVEN                                      EIGHT
    COWKILLER BURROWING 6.2MB         COWKILLER PASSES ANTLION  4.6MB
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