I believe "Tarantula Hawks" aka "Spider Wasps" are members of the family
Pompilidae of the Hymenoptera. Don't know about "cicada killers."

Gene Hunn.

On Tue, 5 Sep 1995, H. Cui wrote:

> I was chatting with somebody about Black Widows, Rattlers,
> Scorpians, etc. and the subject of wasps came up.
> He mentioned a "Tarantula Hawk", a native of the SW which
> paralyzes tarantulas and uses them as a food source for
> its larvae.
> I described an incident back East (Virginia) where I saw a
> cigar shape flying through the air, which flew down and landed
> on the lawn in front of me, then down a hole in the ground.
> It was in fact a "Cicada Killer" carrying a paralized cicada.
>
> Does anybody know the relationship between these two wasps ?
> Are they the same species ?, same family ?
>
> Neil J. Fergusson ******************
> 1405 1/2 NE 56th St. * Baffins *
> Seattle, WA 98105 * or *
> (206) 517-5466 * bust *
> cccc at u.washington.edu ******************
>
>