A medium sized wasp, about an inch long (25 mm), black with iridescent blue overtones on the body and wings. It is similar in appearance and can be confused with a family member, the Blue Mud Dauber, also present in this area. The Steel-blued Cricket Hunter is larger, however, and in a different genus. Males and females look alike except that females are a bit larger.
The Steel-blued Cricket Hunter is widely distributed coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada. It is most often seen in July and August when it is hunting for crickets to provision its nest. It hunts for crickets in the family Gryllidae in open areas and meadows. When a cricket is found the wasp administers a paralyzing sting and carries it to her underground nest chamber. Often her nest chamber is inside the entrance to a Cicada Killer burrow. A nest chamber can contain several cells, each provisioned with several crickets. She lays an egg on one of the crickets and seals the cell. The larva consumes the crickets and pupates, emerging the following summer as an adult.
This wasp rarely visits flowers for nectar. It most often takes its nourishment from oozing sap on wounded plants.
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