Sand Wasp

. These are solitary wasps, the female of which digs a 6- to 10-inch burrow (with a diameter of 1/4 to 1/2 inch) in the ground. She locates and stings a large insect such as a cicada or katydid, drags it to a chamber in the burrow, and lays an egg on it. The female covers up the burrow, digs another one, and repeats the process. The egg hatches into a legless, grublike larva that eats the paralyzed insect, pupates, and emerges the next summer as an adult. Research has shown that this stung, paralyzed host "wakes up" weeks later if taken from the female before she lays her egg on it. Of course, in nature, the host is eaten before it has a chance to wake up (sounds like a neat plot for a horror movie).

Male wasps establish aerial territories and patrol for intruders. Someone walking into the territory typically is confronted with a large wasp hovering in front of the face, zipping to the side and to the back before leaving. A male cicada killer drives off males entering his territory and tries to mate with female cicada killers that enter. Apparently, after determining an intruder is neither, he ignores the person. Unfortunately, in walking across a lawn, fairway, or other area where these wasps are nesting, the process is repeated as a person walks through each male's territory.