some may be 75 mm or more in diameter. The adults of a number of species collect 
lepidopterous larvae as food for their young, and where abundant, are apparently 
capable of exercising a considerable degree of control of their hosts. Like hornets 
and yellowjackets, these insects are vicious stingers, and their nests should be 
approached with caution. 
Family Pompilidae 
Spider Wasps 
Members of this family are predacious or parasitic on various species of spiders. 
The adults are often seen visiting flowers and are noted for their extreme activity 
and ability to run. Their nests are usually found in the ground, but those consisting 
of mud cells are constructed under logs or stones and in other protected places such 
as holes in wood. 
Superfamily Sphecoidea 
All members of this superfamily are predacious on other insects. The majority of 
Species nest in burrows in the soil; the remainder build nests of clay, mud, or sand, 
or in the stems of plants or various kinds of cavities in which they store paralyzed 
prey for their progeny. Host preferences are varied and include spiders and most of 
the more common orders of insects. Adults generally can be recognized by the 
structure of the pronotum that does not extend back to the tegulae, by their 
unjointed trochanters, by the absence of dilation in the hind tarsus, and by the 
simple pubescence of the head and thorax. 
Family Ampulicidae 
Ampulicids 
This family is represented in North America by only two genera and three 
species. As far as known, they nest in twigs, under bark, and under litter on the 
ground. Their prey consists of immature cockroaches. 
Family Sphecidae 
Cicada Killers, Mud Daubers, and Sand Wasps 
This family is represented by 111 genera and more than 1,100 species in the 
United States and Canada. The majority are solitary nest-building wasps that 
provision their nests with other insects or spiders. Many species nest in the ground; 
some construct nests or mud and attach them to the ceilings or walls of buildings, or 
to the lower surfaces of other objects; others construct their nests in the stems of 
plants. Adults are distinguished by the collarlike pronotum that has a straight hind 
margin, the cylindrical rather than flattened hind basitarsus, and absence of 
branched body hair. In a few species, such as the familiar daubers, the abdomen has 
a long, cylindrical petiole. 
The cicada killer, Sphecius speciosus (Drury), which provisions its nest with 
adult cicadas, is one of the more conspicuous members of the family. The adult 
female is a large, black or yellow wasp up to 37 mm long. There are prominent 
black and yellow bands or spots on the abdomen. Adults are usually present from 
midsummer to early fall and they burrow into the ground for nesting purposes. The 
female paralyzes a cicada by stinging it and then flies it to her nest, stores it in a 
cell, and deposits an egg between its legs. When the larva hatches it feeds on the 
cicada. There is one generation per year. 
Cerceris fumipennis Say provisions its nest with a wide variety of wood-boring 
buprestids. Species of the genus Psen prey on various membracids, cercopids, and 
leafhoppers; Crossocerus annulipes (Lepeletier & Brulle) preys on various species 
of tree-infesting cicadellids (28/): Stictia carolina (F.) is frequently seen hovering 
over livestock in search of horse flies. 
438 
