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Black and yellow mud dauber

Sceliphron caementarium

Description:

They are solitary insects that build nests out of mud, in sheltered locations, frequently on man-made structure such as bridges, barns, open porches or under the eaves of houses. These nests are not aggressively defended, and stings are rare. The black and yellow mud dauber's nest comprises a series of cylindrical cells that are plastered over to form a smooth nest that may attain nearly the size of a human fist. After building a cell, the female wasp captures several spiders. The captured prey are stung and paralyzed before being placed in the nest, and then a single egg is deposited on the prey within each cell. The wasp then seals the cell with mud. After finishing a series of cells, she leaves and does not return. Eventually, the hatching larva will eat the prey and emerge from the nest. There are some 30 other species of Sceliphron that occur throughout the world.

Habitat:

Seen near flowering gardens.

Notes:

Seen this nest a day before and my guess is, the nest belongs to this dauber: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/102... details from wikipedia.

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6 Comments

Wild Things
Wild Things 12 years ago

Thanks. The line does seem like a spinal cord :-)

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

delicate beauty!! The line seems to be like a spinal chord.

Wild Things
Wild Things 12 years ago

And the line seems to be very thin too.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

very unusual and delicate body structure!Just a line which connects two segments!

Wild Things
Wild Things 12 years ago

Yes, Emma. I did check and guess that the nest belongs to this dauber.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

yup,the nest you put up in your previous spotting probably does belong to this insect.
l

Wild Things
Spotted by
Wild Things

Maharashtra, India

Spotted on Apr 8, 2012
Submitted on Apr 8, 2012

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