Sceliphron caementarium

The Latin species name caementarius means mason or builder of walls.

S. caementarium is widespread in Canada, the United States, Central America and the West Indies, and has been introduced to many Pacific Islands (including Australia, Hawaii, and Japan), Peru and Europe,{{Cite book|chapter=Mud dauber wasp |title=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia}} where it has become established in some countries of the Mediterranean Basin (Croatia, France and Corsica, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, the Canary Islands, and Madeira) and Austria, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

This species is found in a wide variety of habitats, such as rock ledges, man-made structures, puddles and other water edges, cypress domes, in long leaf pines (Pinus palustris), and in turkey oaks.

File:Sphecidae - Sceliphron caementarium.JPG

Sceliphron caementarium can reach a length of {{convert|24|-|28|mm|in|frac=32|abbr=on}}. Their petiole is generally black and is about half the length of the entire abdomen, however the population in the desert southwest often has a yellow petiole. The thorax shows various yellow markings, while the abdomen is normally black, with yellow propodeum (typical of females). The eyes are black, the antennae are black, and the legs are yellow with black trochanters and femurs. Within the United States, it is the only species with yellow-marked legs. The wings are a tawny color.[http://bugguide.net/node/view/6610 Bugguide][http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=296 Nature Search]

File:Contenuto di un nido di Sceliphron Caementarium (Vespa muratore).jpg

File:Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp, Texas, US imported from iNaturalist photo 323358330.jpg

The black and yellow mud daubers are solitary parasitoid wasps that build nests out of mud. These sphecid wasps collect mud balls at puddle and pool edges for constructing nests. Frequently, nests are built in shaded areas inside formations that are sheltered from the weather or from other environmental elements. These sites may be naturally-occurring, or man-made structures. Some examples are: under and inside various types of bridges, barns, garages, open-air porches, or under housing eaves. The nests comprise up to 25 vertically arranged, individual cylindrical cells. After initial creation and covering of the clutch, this sphecid wasp uses more mud as a means covering and protecting the whole cluster of cells, thereby forming a smooth appearance, and a uniform nest. The entire nest may attain an area equal to, or larger than, the size of an average human fist.

After building a cell of the nest, the female wasp captures several spiders. The captured prey are stung and paralyzed before being placed in the nest (usually 6–15 per cell), and then a single egg is deposited on the prey within each cell. The wasp then seals the cell with a thick mud plug.{{cite book |last1=Milne |first1=Lorus |last2=Milne |first2=Margery |title=Field Guide to Insects & Spiders |date=August 2003 |orig-year=Originally Published October 1st 1980 |publisher=Alfred A Knopf, Inc |location=New York |isbn=0-394-50763-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nationalaudubons00miln/page/844 844–845] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalaudubons00miln/page/844 }} After finishing a series of cells, she leaves and does not return. While consuming the prey and increasing in size, the larva molts several times, until it molts into a pupa. Once the pupa has developed into an adult wasp, the adult emerges from its pupal case and breaks out of its mud chamber.

Adults can be seen in mid-summer feeding on nectar at flowers, especially Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota), parsnips, and water parsnips (Sium suave, Sium latifolium, Berula erecta). They have a low reproductive rate. Stings are rare due to their solitary and usually nonaggressive nature; however, nests are aggressively defended.

A common species of cuckoo wasp, Chrysis angolensis, is frequently a cleptoparasite in Sceliphron nests, and is only one of many different insects that parasitize these mud daubers.

Although they are common components of venoms: serotonin, histamine, acetylcholine, and kinins are absent from S. caementarium venom.

In 1996, Birgenair Flight 301 crashed near Puerto Rico. The most probable cause of this Boeing 757 crash was a blockage in a pitot tube by a mud dauber's nest.{{Cite journal|author=L. Kulzer |url=http://crawford.tardigrade.net/bugs/BugofMonth22.html |title=The Black & Yellow Mud Dauber |year=1996 |journal=Scarabogram |volume=195 |pages=2–3}}{{cite web |url=http://mfm.floridaweekly.com/news/2014-05-21/Other_News/Wasps_dangerous_reputation_belies_its_positive_att.html |title=Wasp's dangerous reputation belies its positive attributes |publisher=Florida Weekly |date=2014-05-15 |accessdate=July 23, 2014 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054810/http://mfm.floridaweekly.com/news/2014-05-21/Other_News/Wasps_dangerous_reputation_belies_its_positive_att.html |url-status=dead }}

File:Sceliphron-mud-dauber.jpg|S. caementarium collecting mud

File:20100710.MudDauber-SceliphronCaementarium.Hannibal.jpg|S. caementarium with a load of mud, just before takeoff

File:Black and Yellow Mud Dauber (Sphecidae, Sceliphron caementarium (Drury)) (36164276721).jpg|S. caementarium with a partially yellow petiole from Austin, TX

File:Sphecidae - Sceliphron caementarium - Nest.JPG|A nest containing the cells covered with mud

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal | last1=O'Connor | first1=Rod | last2=Rosenbrook Jr. | first2=Wm. | title=The Venom of the Mud-Dauber Wasps: I. Sceliphron Caementarium: Preliminary Separations and Free Amino Acid Content | journal=Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology | publisher=Canadian Science Publishing | volume=41 | issue=9 | date=1963-09-01 | issn=0576-5544 | doi=10.1139/o63-220 | pages=1943–1948}}

{{cite journal | last=Schmidt | first=J O | title=Biochemistry of Insect Venoms | journal=Annual Review of Entomology | publisher=Annual Reviews | volume=27 | issue=1 | year=1982 | issn=0066-4170 | doi=10.1146/annurev.en.27.010182.002011 | pages=339–368| pmid=7044266 }}

{{cite journal | last1=Cassar | first1=Thomas | last2=Mifsud | first2=David | title=The introduction and establishment of Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773) (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae) in Malta (Central Mediterranean) | journal=Journal of Hymenoptera Research | publisher=Pensoft Publishers | volume=79 | date=2020-10-30 | issn=1314-2607 | doi=10.3897/jhr.79.58659 | pages=163–168| doi-access=free }}

{{cite web | title=Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1770) | website=Fauna Europaea | date=2017-06-16 | url=http://fauna-eu.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/d75fb850-a811-4a1c-949c-9a632c9f224b | access-date=2021-01-25}}

{{cite journal | last1=Rosenbrook Jr. | first1=William | last2=O'Connor | first2=Rod | title=The Venom of the Mud-Dauber Wasp: Ii. Sceliphron Caementarium: Protein Content | journal=Canadian Journal of Biochemistry | publisher=Canadian Science Publishing | volume=42 | issue=7 | date=1964-07-01 | issn=0008-4018 | doi=10.1139/o64-111 | pages=1005–1010| pmid=14218215 }}

{{cite journal | last1=Van der Vecht | first1=Jacobus | last2=van Breugel | first2=Frans M.A. | title=Revision of the nominate subgenus Sceliphron Latreille (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae) (Studies on the Sceliphronini, Part I). | journal=Tijdschrift voor Entomologie| volume=111 | issue=6 | date=1968 | pages=185–255 | url=https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_51492_revisionofthenominatesubgenuss1968/page/n1/mode/2up | access-date= 2021-05-25 }}

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• {{cite web | title=black and yellow mud dauber - Sceliphron caementarium | website=Entomology and Nematology Department - University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences - UF/IFAS | url=http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/WASPS/Sceliphron_caementarium.htm | access-date=2021-01-25}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Black And Yellow Mud Dauber}}

Category:Sphecidae

Category:Biological pest control wasps

Category:Insects described in 1773

Category:Hymenoptera of Europe