Sphecius grandis
Encyclopedia
Sphecius grandis, also called the western cicada killer, is a species of cicada killer wasp
(Sphecius). The western species shares the same nesting biology
as its fellow species, the eastern cicada killer (S. speciosus). S.grandis, like all other species of the genus
Sphecius, mainly provides cicada
s for its offspring. It forms nest aggregations and mates and broods once in a year
, in July and early August. The wasp is on average 3cm (1.2in) to 5cm (2in) in length and is amber-yellow with yellow rings on its abdomen
.
Wasps in the genus Sphecius are not habitually aggressive and use their venom
mainly to paralyse cicadas which they take back to their nests to feed their young. The females catch around four or more cicadas for provisioning, place them in brood cells and lay eggs in the cells. S.grandis is endemic to Central America
, Mexico and the Western United States
, and is found at a higher mean altitude than other species of Sphecius. The western cicada killer males emerge earlier than females, but generally die after only a couple of days.
Sphecius grandis can be distinguished from S. convallis (the Pacific cicada killer wasp) by the coloration pattern of the gastral tergites
. Formerly, the two species were distinguished on the basis of the number of tergites with yellow markings (five in S. grandis and three in S. convallis), but a more recent study showed that this character was insufficient to distinguish the two species. However, they can be distinguished by the density of the punctuation on the first and second tergites.
in 1824 in Madera Canyon
, Arizona, as Stizus grandis. Its species name is the Latin
adjective grandis meaning "large". It is one of five species of the genus Sphecius
in North America.
More recently, it has been suspected that the western cicada killer represents more than one species. It co-occurs with the eastern cicada killer (S.speciosus) and Pacific cicada killer (S.convallis) at Big Bend National Park
in Texas. There the three wasps hunt and nest in the same locales, and the eastern and western cicada killers hunt the same cicada species. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA
showed that the western cicada killer contains two divergent clade
s, which may represent distinct species. The two clades appeared to be split by the Rocky Mountains
, with one occurring mainly to the south and east, the other to the west.
black hue to the body, amber stripes and a yellow abdomen. The western cicada killer has rufous spots on its first to second tergites and yellow markings can generally be found from first to fifth, although there is some variation. On average, female forewing length lies between 2.5 and 3cm (1–1.4in). Females are larger than males and live for a year, a time just long enough to produce a brood, whereas the males die in only a few days, just enough time to impregnate a female. In Steven J. Phillips' book A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, he referred to them as superficially resembling "huge yellowjackets or hornets" and stated that they are "powerful fliers with compound eyes". On average, males weigh 95mg and females are far heavier, at 256mg, probably because of the additional weight of the ovaries, developing eggs and nutritional reserves. Nevertheless, the ratio between flight muscle mass and body mass is the same for both sexes.
(S.convallis, S.hogardii, S. speciosus, S.spectabilis) is difficult. The female S.convallis was originally distinguished from the female S. grandis by the yellow marks from the first to third gastral tergites
on S.convallis and yellow marks on all tergites for S.grandis. However, this was found to be insufficient for correct identification because the positions of the markings can vary among different wasps of the same species.
Charles W. Holliday and Joseph R. Coelho devised a new key in 2004 to identify the Sphecius species, examining 4,451 wasps among the five New World species, and noting that 98% of the female S. convallis wasps examined had yellow markings on gastral tergites one to four (or fewer) and S.grandis had 98% yellow markings from tergites one to five (or more). The 2% percent of S.grandis that overlapped with S.convallis were determined by density of the punctation in colour of the first tergum against the second. The markings on S.grandis males were found to be the same as on females.
which enables them to hunt for cicadas during the day. A study by Joseph R. Coelho showed that during territorial patrolling the species had a high and regulated thorax
temperature. Experiments found that the wasp has the ability to shift heat from its thorax to its abdomen and that the abdomen is generally kept colder than the thorax. Dead wasps that were placed in the sun reached abnormally high temperatures when compared to nearby plants.
, the offspring feed on the tissue of the cicadas provided by their mother. Males emerge before females and both genders are sexually receptive
from emergence in July to early August, when they mate and brood. English naturalist Charles Darwin
postulated that the pattern of male emergence before females evolved by natural selection
to improve the chances of the male mating. The timing of the emergence of females has evolved to correspond with the similar emergence of the cicada species of the area, Tibicen duryi
and T. parallela, which they hunt for the provisioning of their nests. Many have yellow markings located on their tergites
(dorsal portion), although some have been found only from the first to fifth tergites.
Because males emerge earlier than females, the males compete for mating territories surrounding the nests in which the females are located. During a fight, the males risk damaging their wings or appendages by butting and grappling. Another defense technique is to grab another male and carry it high into the air, which is thought to be a demonstration of strength. As a general rule, the larger the male the more predominant he is in battles. Age influences the success in the defense and security of territory; the younger the wasp the greater the chance of a successful takeover of territory. Some small males even engage in non-territorial mating tactics, and delay their emergence so as to have a fairer chance of survival.
As females are receptive on emergence, a late-emerging male will likely not get the chance to mate and will die in only a few days. On female emergence from the nest, the female does not choose her mate, but instead copulates
with the first ready male of its species that she finds. Once the female has mated, she rebuffs all advances by other wasps. The low fecundity
of the females means that additive mating would not increase the chances of successful birth.
such as stumps, pebbles, wood, weeds, grass blades and low tree branches. Males assume an alert posture, ready for a challenge from another male, or from a predator. One study by a behavioral ecologist
, John Alcock
, showed that a large majority of the marked wasps returned to the same perch day after day, and two males swapped between two different sites. The species rarely perches on the ground.
It shares the same nesting biology
as S.speciosus. All cicada killers
are ground-nesting insects and nest aggregations can contain up to hundreds of nests, each with a single provisioning female. Their tunnel is mainly made in well-drained, bare sandy soil, frequently under sidewalks, but is generally in full sunlight. Approximately 90% of its life is spent underground as a larva. It rarely infests grounds that are rich in vegetation in order for them to get more sun. Mounds are easily recognizable by their distinctive U-shaped digging entrance.
s in low tree trunks, helped by the calls of the cicada males, and paralyses the insect by piercing the central nervous system
with her stinger
. She drags the cicadas back to her nest to place them in brood cells in which she eventually lays one egg per cell. Females carry cicadas that are on average 88% heavier than their own body mass. It has been hypothesised that cicada killers may also have the ability to capture cicadas mid-flight. There are approximately two or more cicadas to each brood cell. When the larvae hatch, the cicada provides nutrition for the offspring to feed on.
The wasps preferentially hunt for female cicadas because they have more consumable tissue, but male cicadas are easier to locate, which explains the systemic bias towards male kills. They chiefly hunt for Tibicen duryi, Tibicen dealbata and Tibicen parallela. Cicada killers are capable of thermoregulation
, which allows them to hunt for cicadas during the day, when the cicadas are most prominent. The species is mostly harmless to humans. Some males when emerging early fly into the trees to feed on sap
, and the species has been known to feed on nectar.
Stings of this species received a lethality rating of 46LC measured by LC= (LC="lethal capacity", μg="venom in the insect", LD50=" of the venom", g="size of mammal receiving the dose" and LD="lethal dose"), where a higher rating indicated a lower lethality.
with the species S. convallis and S. speciosus, even though S. grandis are on average found at higher altitudes than S. convallis. A study showed that the mean elevation for S. grandis was 755 m
± 23.3 m, compared with the lower results of S. speciosus (219 m ± 4.7 m), S. convallis (582 m ± 30.9 m) and S. hogardii (18 m ± 5 m). The species is Nearctic and Neotropic, found from Central America
to the Western United States
, in New Mexico
, California
and every state west of the Rocky Mountains
as well as Kansas
and Nebraska
. S. grandis are the only cicada killers to be found in Utah
and are most commonly found in riparian zones. It has been observed in such places in Mexico as Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur
, Coahuila
, Nuevo Leon
, Tamaulipas
and Yucatán
and also in Granada
(Nicaragua
), Guanacaste
(Costa Rica
) and Honduras
.
Sphecius
Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary, ground dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide...
(Sphecius). The western species shares the same nesting biology
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
as its fellow species, the eastern cicada killer (S. speciosus). S.grandis, like all other species of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Sphecius, mainly provides cicada
Cicada
A cicada is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha , in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many of them remain unclassified...
s for its offspring. It forms nest aggregations and mates and broods once in a year
Voltinism
Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism....
, in July and early August. The wasp is on average 3cm (1.2in) to 5cm (2in) in length and is amber-yellow with yellow rings on its abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
.
Wasps in the genus Sphecius are not habitually aggressive and use their venom
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
mainly to paralyse cicadas which they take back to their nests to feed their young. The females catch around four or more cicadas for provisioning, place them in brood cells and lay eggs in the cells. S.grandis is endemic to Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, Mexico and the Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
, and is found at a higher mean altitude than other species of Sphecius. The western cicada killer males emerge earlier than females, but generally die after only a couple of days.
Sphecius grandis can be distinguished from S. convallis (the Pacific cicada killer wasp) by the coloration pattern of the gastral tergites
Tergum
A tergum is the dorsal portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the base and posterior edge is called the apex or margin. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites...
. Formerly, the two species were distinguished on the basis of the number of tergites with yellow markings (five in S. grandis and three in S. convallis), but a more recent study showed that this character was insufficient to distinguish the two species. However, they can be distinguished by the density of the punctuation on the first and second tergites.
Taxonomy
The western cicada killer was first described by American naturalist Thomas SayThomas Say
Thomas Say was an American naturalist, entomologist, malacologist, herpetologist and carcinologist. A taxonomist, he is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States. He described more than 1,000 new species of beetles and over 400 species of insects of other...
in 1824 in Madera Canyon
Madera Canyon
Madera Canyon is a canyon on the northwestern face of the Santa Rita Mountains, located 25 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona. As part of the Coronado National Forest, the canyon has campsites, picnic areas, and miles of hiking trails. The canyon is used as a resting place for migrating birds, and...
, Arizona, as Stizus grandis. Its species name is the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
adjective grandis meaning "large". It is one of five species of the genus Sphecius
Sphecius
Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary, ground dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide...
in North America.
More recently, it has been suspected that the western cicada killer represents more than one species. It co-occurs with the eastern cicada killer (S.speciosus) and Pacific cicada killer (S.convallis) at Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park is a national park located in the U.S. state of Texas. Big Bend has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, which includes more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56...
in Texas. There the three wasps hunt and nest in the same locales, and the eastern and western cicada killers hunt the same cicada species. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
showed that the western cicada killer contains two divergent clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
s, which may represent distinct species. The two clades appeared to be split by the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, with one occurring mainly to the south and east, the other to the west.
Description
Ranging in size from 3 to 5cm (1.2–2in) in length, the western cicada killer is very similar to its eastern cousin, Sphecius speciosus, with a rufousRufous
Rufous is a colour that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron.The first recorded use of rufous as a colour name in English was in the year 1782....
black hue to the body, amber stripes and a yellow abdomen. The western cicada killer has rufous spots on its first to second tergites and yellow markings can generally be found from first to fifth, although there is some variation. On average, female forewing length lies between 2.5 and 3cm (1–1.4in). Females are larger than males and live for a year, a time just long enough to produce a brood, whereas the males die in only a few days, just enough time to impregnate a female. In Steven J. Phillips' book A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, he referred to them as superficially resembling "huge yellowjackets or hornets" and stated that they are "powerful fliers with compound eyes". On average, males weigh 95mg and females are far heavier, at 256mg, probably because of the additional weight of the ovaries, developing eggs and nutritional reserves. Nevertheless, the ratio between flight muscle mass and body mass is the same for both sexes.
Identification
Distinguishing S.grandis from the other four New World species of SpheciusSphecius
Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary, ground dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide...
(S.convallis, S.hogardii, S. speciosus, S.spectabilis) is difficult. The female S.convallis was originally distinguished from the female S. grandis by the yellow marks from the first to third gastral tergites
Tergum
A tergum is the dorsal portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the base and posterior edge is called the apex or margin. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites...
on S.convallis and yellow marks on all tergites for S.grandis. However, this was found to be insufficient for correct identification because the positions of the markings can vary among different wasps of the same species.
Charles W. Holliday and Joseph R. Coelho devised a new key in 2004 to identify the Sphecius species, examining 4,451 wasps among the five New World species, and noting that 98% of the female S. convallis wasps examined had yellow markings on gastral tergites one to four (or fewer) and S.grandis had 98% yellow markings from tergites one to five (or more). The 2% percent of S.grandis that overlapped with S.convallis were determined by density of the punctation in colour of the first tergum against the second. The markings on S.grandis males were found to be the same as on females.
Thermoregulation
It has been found that the western cicada killer wasp is capable of thermoregulationThermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
which enables them to hunt for cicadas during the day. A study by Joseph R. Coelho showed that during territorial patrolling the species had a high and regulated thorax
Thorax (insect anatomy)
The thorax is the mid section of the insect body. It holds the head, legs, wings and abdomen. It is also called mesosoma in other arthropods....
temperature. Experiments found that the wasp has the ability to shift heat from its thorax to its abdomen and that the abdomen is generally kept colder than the thorax. Dead wasps that were placed in the sun reached abnormally high temperatures when compared to nearby plants.
Birth, emergence and mating
After hatchingEgg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, the offspring feed on the tissue of the cicadas provided by their mother. Males emerge before females and both genders are sexually receptive
Sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...
from emergence in July to early August, when they mate and brood. English naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
postulated that the pattern of male emergence before females evolved by natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
to improve the chances of the male mating. The timing of the emergence of females has evolved to correspond with the similar emergence of the cicada species of the area, Tibicen duryi
Tibicen
The Tibicen genus of cicadas are large-bodied Cicadidae appearing in late summer or autumn. Like other members of the subfamily Cicadinae, they have loud, complex songs, even distinct song phrases. Tibicen are the most common cicada in the United States...
and T. parallela, which they hunt for the provisioning of their nests. Many have yellow markings located on their tergites
Tergum
A tergum is the dorsal portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the base and posterior edge is called the apex or margin. A given tergum may be divided into hardened plates or sclerites commonly referred to as tergites...
(dorsal portion), although some have been found only from the first to fifth tergites.
As females are receptive on emergence, a late-emerging male will likely not get the chance to mate and will die in only a few days. On female emergence from the nest, the female does not choose her mate, but instead copulates
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with the first ready male of its species that she finds. Once the female has mated, she rebuffs all advances by other wasps. The low fecundity
Fecundity
Fecundity, derived from the word fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population. In biology, the definition is more equivalent to fertility, or the actual reproductive rate of an organism or...
of the females means that additive mating would not increase the chances of successful birth.
Nesting and perching
Males perch after emerging from their nest. They pick out an area close to a nest with females inside and guard the territory around it so as to have a better chance of mating. They tend to perch on many different substratesSubstrate (biology)
In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...
such as stumps, pebbles, wood, weeds, grass blades and low tree branches. Males assume an alert posture, ready for a challenge from another male, or from a predator. One study by a behavioral ecologist
Behavioral ecology
Behavioral ecology, or ethoecology, is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment...
, John Alcock
John Alcock (behavioral ecologist)
John Alcock is an American behavioral ecologist and author. He is currently the Emeritus' Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. His research interests include the evolution of diversity in insect populations, studying the adaptive value of different ways in which...
, showed that a large majority of the marked wasps returned to the same perch day after day, and two males swapped between two different sites. The species rarely perches on the ground.
It shares the same nesting biology
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
as S.speciosus. All cicada killers
Sphecius
Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary, ground dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide...
are ground-nesting insects and nest aggregations can contain up to hundreds of nests, each with a single provisioning female. Their tunnel is mainly made in well-drained, bare sandy soil, frequently under sidewalks, but is generally in full sunlight. Approximately 90% of its life is spent underground as a larva. It rarely infests grounds that are rich in vegetation in order for them to get more sun. Mounds are easily recognizable by their distinctive U-shaped digging entrance.
Feeding and hunting habits
Sphecius grandis has very similar nesting and feeding habits to other members of its genus, most notably Sphecius speciosus. As with S.speciosus, the female hunts for cicadaCicada
A cicada is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha , in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many of them remain unclassified...
s in low tree trunks, helped by the calls of the cicada males, and paralyses the insect by piercing the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
with her stinger
Stinger
-Biology:* Stinger, an organ or body part found in various animals that usually delivers some kind of venom.* Stinger , a minor neurological injury suffered by athletes.-Sports and entertainment:...
. She drags the cicadas back to her nest to place them in brood cells in which she eventually lays one egg per cell. Females carry cicadas that are on average 88% heavier than their own body mass. It has been hypothesised that cicada killers may also have the ability to capture cicadas mid-flight. There are approximately two or more cicadas to each brood cell. When the larvae hatch, the cicada provides nutrition for the offspring to feed on.
The wasps preferentially hunt for female cicadas because they have more consumable tissue, but male cicadas are easier to locate, which explains the systemic bias towards male kills. They chiefly hunt for Tibicen duryi, Tibicen dealbata and Tibicen parallela. Cicada killers are capable of thermoregulation
Thermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
, which allows them to hunt for cicadas during the day, when the cicadas are most prominent. The species is mostly harmless to humans. Some males when emerging early fly into the trees to feed on sap
Sap
Sap may refer to:* Plant sap, the fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant* Sap , a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia...
, and the species has been known to feed on nectar.
Stings of this species received a lethality rating of 46LC measured by LC= (LC="lethal capacity", μg="venom in the insect", LD50=" of the venom", g="size of mammal receiving the dose" and LD="lethal dose"), where a higher rating indicated a lower lethality.
Geographical distribution
Western cicada killers are found at a higher altitude than most other Sphecius species and are sympatricSympatry
In biology, two species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus regularly encounter one another. An initially-interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sharing a common range exemplifies sympatric speciation...
with the species S. convallis and S. speciosus, even though S. grandis are on average found at higher altitudes than S. convallis. A study showed that the mean elevation for S. grandis was 755 m
Metre
The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
± 23.3 m, compared with the lower results of S. speciosus (219 m ± 4.7 m), S. convallis (582 m ± 30.9 m) and S. hogardii (18 m ± 5 m). The species is Nearctic and Neotropic, found from Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
to the Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
, in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and every state west of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
as well as Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. S. grandis are the only cicada killers to be found in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and are most commonly found in riparian zones. It has been observed in such places in Mexico as Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
, Nuevo Leon
Nuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
and Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
and also in Granada
Granada, Nicaragua
Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 110,326 , it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically...
(Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
), Guanacaste
Guanacaste Province
Guanacaste is a province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern part of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. To the north it borders Nicaragua. To the east is the Alajuela Province, and to the southeast is the Puntarenas Province. It is the most sparsely populated of all the...
(Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
) and Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
.
Interaction with humans
Sphecius grandis wasps frequently interact with humans because of their tendency to make their nests in backyards, gardens and sidewalks. Pest control is mostly unneeded as they nest in areas with little to no vegetation, usually ignore people, and females are not aggressive, tending to save their venom for their cicada prey, but will sting if they are grabbed or stepped on. Despite their large size, being the largest wasp to inhabit California, their sting has been reported as being between merely numbing and sharp to moderate. Males, while smaller, are naturally more aggressive and less tolerant of disturbance.External links
- Sphecius grandis at Discover Life
- Sphecius grandis at ZipcodeZoo