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The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber, Sceliphron caementarium, is a slender black wasp with yellow markings, about 21 to 28 mm long. Females are larger than males. Its most striking feature is the pedicel, the thin black “thread waist” that joins the thorax to the abdomen, which is about twice as long as the rest of the abdomen. The yellow markings vary between individuals but usually appear on the base of the antennae, on the top of the thorax, where the abdomen meets the waist, and on the legs. The hind legs always have plenty of yellow on the tibiae and tarsi, which separates it from the related Sceliphron assimile of Texas and Mexico, whose hind legs are black. A population in the western United States has a yellow waist instead of a black one.
This native wasp occurs throughout North America, from southern Canada across the United States to Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. It has also been spread by people to Europe, Asia, Australia, and Pacific islands such as Hawaii and New Zealand. It lives wherever it can find three things: sheltered places for nests, a supply of mud, and spiders to hunt. Nests are built under rock ledges and on buildings, eaves, sheds, and bridges, and adults gather at puddle edges and other wet soil to collect mud and visit flowers for nectar.
Adults are active by day, mostly from April to October in North America, and all year in the tropics. The female rolls balls of mud in her jaws and carries them to a sheltered spot, where she builds a cylindrical mud cell. She then hunts spiders, preferring orb weavers but also taking long-jawed orb weavers, lynx, crab, jumping, and sac spiders. Individual females often specialize on one kind of spider. Each spider is stung near its nerve center, which paralyzes it permanently but keeps it fresh, and up to 25 spiders are packed into a single cell. Females sometimes steal spiders from other females’ nests. Males do not build or guard nests; they gather at flowers to feed on nectar and wait for females. Adults feed on nectar, especially from parsnip and water parsnip flowers, and also drink body fluids from their prey. This mud-dauber is docile and rarely stings unless handled roughly.
The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). The female lays a single egg on one of the spiders in each cell, seals the cell with a thick mud plug, and builds the next one beside it. A finished nest may hold up to 25 cells, and she often smooths extra mud over the whole cluster. The egg hatches in about two to three and a half days, and the larva eats all of its spiders, legs and all, in one to three weeks. It then spins a thin, reddish brown cocoon inside the cell. Larvae from early summer nests pupate and emerge as a second generation later that summer, while those from late summer nests rest through the winter as prepupae and emerge as adults the next spring. Adults live about three to six weeks.
The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber is a minor nuisance pest, not a harmful one. It does not damage crops or wood, and it is harmless to people: it is docile, rarely stings, and its venom is much milder than that of hornets and other social wasps. Its pest status comes from its nests, which are unsightly when many are built on a building, and which can cause real problems when built in unusual places such as car engines, airplane parts, and other machinery.
This preserved specimen educates on solitary wasp nesting behavior and spider-hunting predators, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/6610
The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber, Sceliphron caementarium, is a slender black wasp with yellow markings, about 21 to 28 mm long. Females are larger than males. Its most striking feature is the pedicel, the thin black “thread waist” that joins the thorax to the abdomen, which is about twice as long as the rest of the abdomen. The yellow markings vary between individuals but usually appear on the base of the antennae, on the top of the thorax, where the abdomen meets the waist, and on the legs. The hind legs always have plenty of yellow on the tibiae and tarsi, which separates it from the related Sceliphron assimile of Texas and Mexico, whose hind legs are black. A population in the western United States has a yellow waist instead of a black one.
This native wasp occurs throughout North America, from southern Canada across the United States to Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. It has also been spread by people to Europe, Asia, Australia, and Pacific islands such as Hawaii and New Zealand. It lives wherever it can find three things: sheltered places for nests, a supply of mud, and spiders to hunt. Nests are built under rock ledges and on buildings, eaves, sheds, and bridges, and adults gather at puddle edges and other wet soil to collect mud and visit flowers for nectar.
Adults are active by day, mostly from April to October in North America, and all year in the tropics. The female rolls balls of mud in her jaws and carries them to a sheltered spot, where she builds a cylindrical mud cell. She then hunts spiders, preferring orb weavers but also taking long-jawed orb weavers, lynx, crab, jumping, and sac spiders. Individual females often specialize on one kind of spider. Each spider is stung near its nerve center, which paralyzes it permanently but keeps it fresh, and up to 25 spiders are packed into a single cell. Females sometimes steal spiders from other females’ nests. Males do not build or guard nests; they gather at flowers to feed on nectar and wait for females. Adults feed on nectar, especially from parsnip and water parsnip flowers, and also drink body fluids from their prey. This mud-dauber is docile and rarely stings unless handled roughly.
The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). The female lays a single egg on one of the spiders in each cell, seals the cell with a thick mud plug, and builds the next one beside it. A finished nest may hold up to 25 cells, and she often smooths extra mud over the whole cluster. The egg hatches in about two to three and a half days, and the larva eats all of its spiders, legs and all, in one to three weeks. It then spins a thin, reddish brown cocoon inside the cell. Larvae from early summer nests pupate and emerge as a second generation later that summer, while those from late summer nests rest through the winter as prepupae and emerge as adults the next spring. Adults live about three to six weeks.
The Yellow-legged Mud-dauber is a minor nuisance pest, not a harmful one. It does not damage crops or wood, and it is harmless to people: it is docile, rarely stings, and its venom is much milder than that of hornets and other social wasps. Its pest status comes from its nests, which are unsightly when many are built on a building, and which can cause real problems when built in unusual places such as car engines, airplane parts, and other machinery.
This preserved specimen educates on solitary wasp nesting behavior and spider-hunting predators, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/6610
| Weight | 0.01 lbs |
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