I was describing beekeeping to a student who lives in central Iowa, and she asked some very good questions about bees, but she described the following situation to me that I could not explain.  Can anyone help me out?

"I lived on a farm in central Iowa and there were these HUGE wasps or hornets (not sure) that had ENORMOUS "stingers" or maybe they were just tails - about 3 - 5 inches long.  I think they used them to drill into tree trunks and the like.  Any idea what these were or why they did that?  Someone said that they might be Cecada killers but I somewhat doubt that because they were never around cecadas."


Duane H. Bajema, Ph.D.
Dordt College
Agriculture Department
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
Office:  712/722-6275
FAX:     712/722-1185
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