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Black and yellow mud daubers primarily prey on relatively small, colorful spiders, such as crab spiders (and related groups), orb weavers and some jumping spiders. They usually find them in and around vegetation. Blue mud daubers are the main predator of the black and brown widow spiders.
You'll see dirt daubers flying about with large bulging abdomens - and chances are that these little creatures have been feasting on many insects like spiders, mosquitoes, or aphids. In this blog post, we will examine 8 things about dirt daubers that you need to know before dealing with them on your property.
In fact, most insect parasitoids are wasps, such is the enormous distribution and prevalence of these highly-specialised animals. Within this group of parasitoid wasps, some build neat little bungalows out of mud. These wasps are called mud daubers, or sometimes mud wasp or dirt dauber.
If you've observed flying insects tending to a mud nest near your home, you've encountered mud daubers. The insects themselves are ¾ to 1 inch in length with a very thin, long 'waist' called a petiole that connects the abdomen to the thorax.
Mud daubers are wasp-like insects that construct nests from mud. They make a variety of nests ranging from elaborate structures ( i.e., multiple tubes several inches long or small vase-like nests attached to plant stems) to merely ‘plastering’ up existing cracks or crevices in wood, stone, or masonry.
Mud Dauber wasps build finger-like nests of mud which are attached to flat or vertical surfaces. The mud is molded into cells by the wasps mandibles. Their nests are usually built in sheds, barns and other structures.
Mud daubers are a type of wasp that has developed a particularly interesting nesting behavior — they grow their young in individual mounds and tunnel systems that they create out of mud. Some...
