Locust Hornet Battle? What kind of Hornet?

Question

So im outside of my house and i hear this crazy sound. I look ver and see something fall from a tree. I walk over and a locust and what im guessing was a hornet (yellow and maybe partly red) Were going at it in the grass. The hornet came out victorious bit off the locusts wing and then just flew away. I picked up the locust it was partially alive and i put it back down. I came back a few hours later and there was a huge gaping whole in the locust. What happened? Did the hornet lay something in it?

Oh and i live in NJ

Answer 1

Yes, the wasp (cicada killer) stung it to paralize it and then deposited an egg on it. It dug a hole and buried it so that its larvae could eat it.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer

Answer 2

It was hoping to because that is what they use for a good meal for the kids when they emerge from the eggs the locust put in there. That was more likely a wasp (if it had a skinny waist instead of a fat waist). Locusts chew plants and hornets/wasps chew insects. The locust will always lose that battle and will end up becoming fast food for the larvae when they hatch.

Answer 3

I'm guessing probably the wasp was a cicada killer (and the locust was probably a cicada - which are often called locusts in many parts of the US).

Here's a wikipedia page about cicada killer wasps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer_wasp

Usually, however, the wasp will carry the paralyzed cicada back to its nest, where it lays eggs on it to provide food for the wasp's developing larvae (they eat it while it is still alive and paralyzed - pretty gruesome for the cicada, but much fresher food for the wasp). Having one carry off a wing (which is pretty much just indigestible chitin) and leave the cicada is pretty odd.