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My Home:
I am a solitary wasp; I do not
fly in a swarm of wasps or live in large colonies. During the summer
months you can usually find me at a muddy location collecting mud for my
nests.
What I
eat: I eat other insects.
What I
look like: I am long and thin
with a thread like waist, around 1/2 to 1 inch in length. I can be
black and yellow striped or blackish blue in color and have a stinger
located at the end of my abdomen.
How I am
born: I go through four stages
of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult. My nest is built out of
mud, which can contain up to 25 eggs. Each cell of the mud nest
contains an insect (usually spiders) plus one egg and is sealed up with
mud. After only a few days, my egg hatches. As a larva I will eat the
insect put in the mud cell with me for food. I remain a larva for about
three weeks then spin a cocoon in the cell. I usually remain in the
cocoon over the winter and emerge in the spring from the cell as an
adult wasp. My life span from egg to adult is about one year.
Fun
Facts: You
can find the nests usually on the sides of buildings or other
structures. If you see a large quantity of mud dabber nests close
together, that usually is just the work of one female. It also means
you have a lot of spiders and other bugs for her to feed her young. Mud
daubers are not as aggressive as yellow jackets; they can sting
repeatedly without dying. |
