This scary looking wasp is actually one of the least likely to sting. The males have no stingers, and the females have to be really threatened,
(or accidentally grabbed, stepped on or sat on), before they'll sting. They are solitary creatures, so no worries about stumbling across a huge nest of them.
They get their name because they use cicadas as food for their larvae. They make a tunnel in the ground, then hunt up a nice fat cicada.
They sting the cicada, paralyzing it, and drag it back to the tunnel. As big as these wasps are,
(1 - 1.5 inches), the cicadas are still 2 - 3 times their weight. Pretty amazing that the wasps can get them back to their nest.
Once they get the cicada tucked in to their little ground tunnel, they lay their eggs on the paralyzed cicada,
and when the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the paralyzed but STILL ALIVE cicada.
Pretty gross, but maybe it's payback for the annoying noise the cicadas make in Spring ;)