Blue mud dauber

Blue mud dauber
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Sphecidae
Genus: Chalybion
Species: C. californicum
Binomial name
Chalybion californicum
(Saussure, 1867) [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Pelopeus californicus Saussure, 1867
  • Sphex cærulea Linnaeus, 1763

The blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders.[2] It does not build its own nests, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. It is not normally aggressive.[2] It is similar in shape and colour to the steel-blue cricket hunter (Chlorion aerarium). Like other types of wasps, males do not have an ovipositor, therefore cannot sting.

References

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  1. 1 2 M. C. Day (1979). "The species of Hymenoptera described by Linnaeus in the genera Sphex, Chrysis, Vespa, Apis and Mutilla". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 12 (1): 45–84. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1979.tb00049.x.
  2. 1 2 B. M. Drees & J. Jackman (1999). "Mud Daubers". Field Guide to Texas Insects. Texas A&M University.
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