Annual cicada photo by Sue Danielson, Missourinet
(Undated) — University of Missouri Extension Entomologist Emily Althoff says that buzzing you hear coming from trees means it’s cicada season. She says the emergence of the annual cicada also marks the arrival of its predator, the cicada killer. She says the wasp-like creature has one thing on its mind, it wants a cicada for dinner. “Female cicada killers will actually dig a Burrow with different chambers and take a cicada down there and then lay an egg. So she feeds the cicada to her young. The young will then emerge the next year after having a year to kind of feed on that Cicada,” said Althoff. She says there’s a sure sign of a cicada killer in your yard if you notice a hole about the size of a nickel, surrounded by a mound of dirt.
Althoff says while the cicada killer looks intimidating, it usually does not bother people. She admits these insects, the cicada and the cicada killer may not be favorites among humans, Missouri in the summer has an abundance of unusual insects. She says one in particular to watch for is the luna moth which is stretching its wings right now.
