Blue Cricket Hunter Wasp. Identification cricket hunter wasps are 5 8 inches long dull black in coloration with grey or dusky colored wings. Log in or sign up.
1989 distribution and biology of the sphecine wasps of michigan hymenoptera. Species chlorion aerarium steel blue cricket hunter. Known as the cricket hunter wasp because of its habit of catching and feeding crickets to its offspring these wasps are common outdoor insects.
The steel blue cricket hunter has a similar life cycle but provisions its cells in the ground with crickets.
The female hunts a cricket paralyzing it with a sting and then takes it back to her nest in order to have food on hand for when her eggs hatch. Prey are transported on the ground venter up with the wasp s mandibles grasping the antennae of the cricket. Sphecidae is an unusual wasp that occasionally becomes a pest in texas homes. The wings are dark with iridescence similar to an oil slick.
