im, the stings are not much more than a "pinprick". Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males but they have no sting. Although they appear to attack anything which moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything which might be a female cicada killer ready to mate. Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers don't land on people and attempt to sting. If handled roughly females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen. Both sexes are well equipped to bite, as they have large jaws; however, they don't appear to grasp human skin and bite. They are non-aggressive towards humans and usually fly away when swatted at, instead of attacking. Cicada killers exert a natural control on cicada populations and thus may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which their cicada prey feeds.
Chrysisid Wasps. These tiny wasps are characterized by their shining coloration made of iridescent blue, green, purple which are true pigments (red, brown and white) and are very rare in insects. The typical brilliance is emphasized by the exoskeleton sculpture, which is carved by a complex punctuation and by projections, crests and holes. In addition there is a reduction of the number of the external abdominal segments, the presence of 11 antennal segments and for the wing veins with 5 closed cells. Some tropical species have apterous females and a body without metallic reflections.
Cuckoo Wasps. Images Courtsey of (left) Pollinator and (right) Alvesgaspar.
Currently about 3,000 species have been described worldwide. Chrysidids are parasitoids with some species being cleptoparasites meaning they lay their eggs on host that are already parasitized by other wasps. In addition it is not uncommon for the newly hatched cleptoparasitic larvae to attack and kill the other parasitic larvae thus leaving more food for themselves
Velvet Ants. Their common name velvet ants refers to th