The wasps most often nest in open areas of hard-packed sandy soil surrounded by woody habitat suitable for their buprestid beetle prey.

Most cells (approximately 5 – 12, but up to 24) are constructed 7 – 20 cm below grade with the egg, larva and pupal stages all developing within the confines of the single nest.

Ontario colonies are associated with somewhat disturbed sites compacted by human activity such as baseball diamonds, parking areas, infrequently used roads, roadsides, footpaths and the soil around campfire pits.

EAB has proven difficult to detect using traditional methods of ground/visual surveys and sticky traps, both of which are costly, labour-intensive and at times destructive or impractical.

By transporting mobile populations of this wasp, biosurveillance could facilitate an early warning system for the EAB across the United States & Canada.

[1] By using trained wasp watchers to look for what C. fumipennis brings back to its ground nest entrance, this could augment an early warning system that currently only utilizes "Purple Barney traps" that mimic the same color spectrum as Fraxinus ash tree leaves, to attract the EAB.