Appearance
The thorax is attached to the abdomen by a long red and black petiole which is swollen at the rear giving some kind of a bell shape. The rear part of the abdomen is yellow with more or less marked black stripes. The abdomen tip is pointed. The square-shaped thorax and the first part of the abdomen are black with reddish patches which are much more visible on females. The front of the thorax shows yellow patches just at the back of the head.The legs are reddish, the antennae are long with a curved tip. The wings are ochre and aligned over the body when at rest. The wingspan is 20-25 mm, males are slightly smaller than females.
![Potter Wasp nest Stuck on a leaf from an Ficus tree. single shot, 1.5X, f6.3
The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil and regurgitated water, but many species use chewed plant material, instead.
The name "potter wasp" derives from the shape of the mud nests built by species of Eumenes and similar genera. It is believed that Native Americans based their pottery designs upon the form of local potter wasp nests.[2]
When a cell is completed, the adult wasp usually collects beetle larvae, spiders, or caterpillars and, paralyzing them, places them in the cell to serve as food for a single wasp larva.
As a normal rule, the adult wasp lays a single egg in the empty cell before provisioning it. Some species lay the egg in the opening of the cell, suspended from a thread of dried fluid. When the wasp larva hatches, it drops and starts to feed upon the supplied prey for a few weeks before pupating. The complete lifecycle may last from a few weeks to more than a year from the egg until the adult emerges. Adults are black or brown, and usually marked with contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, red or combinations of colors. Adult potter wasps feed on floral nectar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_wasp
Delta unguiculatum,Geotagged,Great potter wasp,Summer,United States](https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/5803/137730_small.JPEG?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=C2%2FYnhptavki1MSWAOG4qGPMIZo%3D)
Naming
Scientific name: Delta unguiculatum (Villers, 1789)English name: Great potter wasp
French name: Eumène unguiculé
Subspecies
Delta unguiculatum aschabadense Rad., 1893
Delta unguiculatum libanense Giordani Soika, 1941
Delta unguiculatum mauritanicum Giordani Soika, 1941
Delta unguiculatum sporadense Schulthess, 1929
Delta unguiculatum unguiculatum Villers, 1789
Synonyms
Eumenes huberti Saussure, 1852
Eumenes olivieri Lepeletier, 1841
Eumenes tadzhicorum Gussakovski, 1935
Sphex cursor Christ, 1791
Sphex lapicida Christ, 1791
Vespa coangustata Rossi, 1790
Vespa dumetorum Panzer, 1799
Vespa unguiculatum Villers 1789
Distribution
Southern Europe east to southern Russia. Egypt.
Behavior
The great potter wasp builds some kind of nest with mud and wet sand. It includes several cells which receive one egg each and small caterpillars to feed the larva.
Habitat
Adults can be observed on Apiaceae flowers where they feed on nectar.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
http://toutunmondedansmonjardin.perso.neuf.fr/EN/pages_EN/delta_unguiculatum_EN.htm
