Black body is marked with yellow across the thorax and abdomen. The wings are reddish orange. The Cicada killer is a solitary wasp rather than a social wasp like yellowjackets. The female nests in burrows in the ground. These burrows are about the size of a quarter in diameter and can go 6 inches straight down and another 6 inches horizontally.
Adults feed on flower nectar and sap exudates.
The adult female seeks cidadas on the trunks and lower limbs of trees. She then stings her prey, flips it over, straddles it and carries it to her burrow. She will lay one egg per cicada and then stuff them into her burrow. Each burrow normally has 3 to 4 cells with 1 to 2 cicadas each. However, it is possible for one burrow to have 10 to 20 cells.