# Exeirus

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{{Short description|Genus of wasps}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Speciesbox 
| name = Australian cicada killer wasp
| image = Cicada-killer Wasp - Exeirus lateritius - Fraser Coast. Queensland. Australia.jpg
| image_caption = ''Exeirus lateritius'' (Cicada-killer wasp), Fraser Coast, Queensland, Australia 
| genus = Exeirus
| species = lateritius
| authority = ([Shuckard](/source/William_Edward_Shuckard), 1838)
}}

The '''Australian cicada killer wasp''', '''''Exeirus lateritius''''', the sole member of the [genus](/source/genus) ''Exeirus'', is a large, solitary, ground-dwelling, [predatory](/source/predation) [wasp](/source/wasp). It is related to the more common genus of cicada killers, ''[Sphecius](/source/Sphecius)''. In [Australia](/source/Australia), ''E. lateritius'' hunts over 200 species of [cicada](/source/cicada).

== Habitat ==
The wasps occur in warm, dry areas where there are enough [tree](/source/tree)s to support [cicada](/source/cicada)s, such as the [Murray-Darling basin](/source/Murray-Darling_basin), the south-east coast of the Australian mainland including Sydney, and [Tasmania](/source/Tasmania).

==Predation method==
''Exeirus lateritius'' stings and paralyses cicadas high in the trees, making them drop to the ground, from where the wasp moves them to its burrow, pushing with its hind legs, sometimes over a distance of a hundred meters. The paralysed cicada is placed on one of many shelves in a "[catacomb](/source/catacomb)", to form the food-stock for the wasp grub which grows out of the egg deposited there.,<ref>{{Citation | first = P | last = Tillyard | title = The Insects of Australia and New Zealand | place = Sydney | publisher = Angus & Robertson | year = 1926 | pages = 298–99}}</ref> sometimes as deep as 60&nbsp;cm underground<ref>{{YouTube|2xY4vDk6lsE|Giant Cicada Killer Wasp Buries Cicada}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5419958}}

Category:Bembicidae
Category:Apoidea genera
Category:Monotypic Hymenoptera genera
Category:Hymenoptera of Australia

{{Apoidea-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Exeirus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeirus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeirus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.