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Project Noah Nature School
Sceliphron madraspatanum conspicillatum
Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Wasp, common name for this sphecid wasp, was spotted with a grasshopper on a heliconia plant. The wasp's body form is narrowly elongated and with a very narrow constriction at the base of the abdomen. The general color is black but yellow stripes cross the body and band the legs. The black and yellow mud dauber is usually between 25-30 mm in length. The Rice Grasshopper in the photo is Pseudoxya diminuta (http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/147...).
Backyard.
Classification: Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Ants, Sawflies) >> Sphecidae (Hunting Wasps) >> Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773). Update 12/29/2016 -- ID changed from Sceliphron caementarium to Sceliphron madraspatanum (Fabricius, 1781) ssp. conspicillatum (A. Costa, 1864). Source: Sphecid Wasps of the World: A Generic Revision By Richard Mitchell Bohart, Arnold S. Menke. ============= Mud daubers are black and yellow, thread-waisted, solitary wasps that build a hard mud nest, usually on ceilings and walls, attended by a single female wasp. They are not social wasps but may be confused with them. They do not defend their nests and rarely sting. Source: http://pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/was....
Spotted on Sep 30, 2012
Submitted on Nov 17, 2012
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