Steel Blue Cricket Hunter

Description:

Frequently confused with the Blue Mud Dauber. Both are in the family Sphecidae, and indeed they can sometimes be difficult to tell apart in the field, especially the males. Chlorion aerarium is generally a significantly larger wasp, much brighter in color (though a deep metallic violet blue in much of eastern North America), and less hairy than the Blue Mud Dauber. The antennae of Chlorion originate lower on the face, and the mandible has a single tooth (the mandible of Chalybion is simple). (Information obtained from bugeric.blogspot.com)

Notes:

Solitary females hunt crickets of the family Gryllidae. Females scour the ground and peering into nooks and crannies in search of crickets. Once she locates one, she stings it into weak paralysis and flies it or carries it to a burrow excavated previously. She sometimes chooses to dig her own burrow from inside the entrance of a cicada killer burrow. The burrow may terminate in more than one cell (multicellular burrows may even be the norm). The female places several crickets in each cell, closing the cell with a plug of soil between forays. A single egg is laid on one of the victims. The larva that hatches then consumes the cache of crickets. Both genders fuel their frenetic activity mostly on fermenting plant sap oozing from wounded shrubs. (information obtained from bugeric.blogspot.com)