Sceliphron caementarium
I used to see a lot of these as a kid when we moved to our newly-constructed home in South Salt Lake County in Utah.
Our yard was once part of a marsh that had been filled in and the insects hadn't quite gotten the message yet. We
had lots of garter snakes, mud daubers, and black widows. I was never fond of these beautiful wasps because they were
so scary-looking, accompanied by the fact that everyone used to say how mean they were. © Carol Davis, 8-9-2009
Is such a gorgeous black wasp with gold trim to be feared? Not really. They don't tend to defend their nests
like other wasps and it takes a lot more to get them riled up. This article at Iowa State University's site
gives a thorough explanation of the life cycle of the Mud Dauber. © Carol Davis, 8-9-2009
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