Pear-shaped Nest

Description:

A large pot nest built by a potter wasp. This nest is old and empty as the larva has already matured and abandoned the nest. The material used for building this nest are decomposed wood, containing a bite of mycelium from decaying fungi. This pear-shaped nest have branched out spikes at the entrance of the nest which looks like a star but unfortunately some parts were broken. The mother wasp has also added lines / ridges running vertically down the nest for extra structural support. She is indeed a great architect. I saw plenty other nests around this area, on walls usually up high. Possibly a Eustenogaster calyptodoma.

Habitat:

These nests are usually built high up at the sides of the wooden ceilings but this nest was found underneath a wooden table in a hut in the Maliau Basin Belian campsite, MBSC, near Tawau town. Also recorded in Tawau Hills Park.

Notes:

This is the first time I saw this kind of mud nest. I have never seen them anywhere else in Sabah but these are fairly common in Maliau Basin Study Center. Special thanks to Bleu.geo and Bernhard Jacobi for the ID breakthrough. >>>Map accuracy : 5km diameter.