I noticed this odd soil formation in the garden this week and checked with our staff entomologist Bill Reynolds, who identified this as the nest of a Cicada Killer Wasp. These large, yellow banded wasps which we see around the garden, capture and paralyze cicadas, then bring them back to their in-ground lairs. The wasps drag the stunned cicadas into the mound and proceed to lay eggs in their paralyzed bodies. The eggs, then hatch and use the cicadas for food, eating the non-vital body parts first, so their food source remains alive as long as possible. When the hole is full of cicada bodies (generally less than a dozen), the wasps seal up the entrance, leaving no trace of what’s going on underneath. Sounds like a real-life zombie storyline.
