The other day I posted a blue-black spider wasp without realizing that we were really talking about mud daubers, or dirt daubers (or dobbers). There are a large number of species of sphecid, or digger wasps, in the family Sphecidae, and most probably don’t make nests like this.


My little wasp of the other day almost certainly didn’t construct these little nurseries that adorn our outside porch. That accomplishment probably goes to the organpipe mud dauber, Trypoxylon spp.


Some people like to hang pictures on walls. I kind of like to keep these around. The breakout holes for the larvae that used to be there tell the story of how long these inactive nests have been around.


I’m a little conflicted about mud daubers. On the one hand they are solitary, non-aggressive wasps that pose no real annoyance and are kind of interesting. On the other hand their favorite comfort food for the younguns is spiders, which they paralyze and stuff into their nests, laying eggs atop the future dinner. Apparently different species of sphecids have preferences for particular species of spiders.