Black and Yellow Mud Dauber (Sceliphron caementarium)
escription:
Yellow and black sphecid wasp with brown wings.
Habitat:
Crawling on a squash vine at the base of a ridge on an organic farm. Soil nearby was quite sandy. Surrounded by mixed hardwood/pine forest
Notes:
Mud daubers are solitary wasps that build their nests out of mud. Columnar nests are usually built under man-made structures (bridges, porches, house eaves). Captured (and paralyzed) prey are delivered to the cells of these nests along with a single egg. The egg hatches and the larva will go through pupation. The trapped prey acts as a food source for the hatched larva before it emerges from the nest.
Black and yellow mud dauber is a common name for the sphecid wasp species "Sceliphron caementarium". 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.
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