The cicada killer or the cicada hawk is a large digger wasp species. Cicada killers are large, solitary wasps in the family 'Crabronidae'.

After digging a nest chamber in the burrow, female cicada killers capture cicadas, paralyzing them with a sting. After paralyzing a cicada, the female wasp holds it upside down beneath her and takes off toward her burrow; this return flight to the burrow is difficult for the wasp because the cicada is often more than twice her weight.

A wasp will often lug its prey up into the nearest tree, to gain altitude for the flight to the burrow. After putting one or more cicadas in her nest cell, the female deposits an egg on a cicada and closes the cell with dirt. The egg hatches in one or two days, and the cicadas serve as food for the grub.

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