Cricket Hunter Wasp |
Chlorion aerarium |
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This spectacular, metalic blue-green wasp was busy hunting for crickets on an eroded embankment near Cave Creek, Maricopa County, Arizona. 30 Sept. 2008. Sphecidae -- Sphecid Wasp Family |
By day crickets of the Sonoran Desert mostly hide deep in their burrows to escape the heat and dry conditions. But they are not entirely safe. Cricket Hunter wasps can find them using sensitive chemo-receptors (smell) and enter the burrows after them. Once found, the wasp paralyzes the cricket with a sting. With one to several crickets the wasp provisions its own burrow. Later the wasp's egg will hatch into a grub that consumes the crickets. The wasp will excavate a new burrow and hunt cricket provisions for each of its young. More Information: |
Sonoran
Desert Field Guide
Sonoran Desert Places
Sonoran Desert Naturalist Home Page