Mud Dauber Nest

Description:

These are solitary wasp species, with nests constructed and provisioned by individual mated females. Eggs of mud daubers are laid singly on hosts in cells in mud nests provisioned with food, sealed and abandoned. Larvae grow up to 1 inch long and are cream-colored, legless and maggot-like. They pupate in cocoons within the cells and overwinter in nests. There can be several generations annually.

Habitat:

Mud daubers (Sphecidae) build small nests of mud under overhangs like eaves of buildings. The pipe organ mud dauber, Trypoxylon politum build mud nests of long parallel tubes and provision their nests with spiders. The black and yellow mud dauber, Sceliphron caementarium, constructs a globular nest containing one cell to several cells, also provisioned with paralyzed spiders. Adults are commonly seen in wet spots, forming balls of mud for building their nests.

Notes:

Found attached to our garage door and is only visible when the door is up and we thereby look up in to the recess of the panels. 7 Jun 2012 - I've added another picture of another nest we found in our garage. I knocked this one down and was excited to see the wasp larvae and the paralyzed spider prey inside.