#blue mud dauber

[stonefly-with-a-pen]

bug yuri. that’s it that’s the post

[jack-o-cel]

Saw the most prettiest lady today! She had a perfect body, and color! Absolutely gorgeous ❤️❤️❤️

Bug tw

She’s a Blue Mud Dauber Wasp! Apparently, based on surface research, she’s a non aggressive species of wasp. So if you leave her alone, she’ll leave you alone

Definitely recommend searching up professional pictures of them! Absolutely gorgeous bug

[drea-s-artblog]

Sybil full body ref

[onenicebugperday]

what could this thing be 🤔 from chicago

A friend! And a pal :')

It's a thread-waisted wasp in the family Sphecidae, probably a nearctic blue mud dauber.

[waspcup]

ignoring the fact that you already assigned me a bug. i want more insect

hmm i already said jumping spider but you could also be a blue mud dauber . to me

[scarecrowscribe]

I never feel so lucky as when a glimpse of unexpected colour leads me to meet a new acquaintance. Lovely lovely lovely. I was so struck by the iridescent blue that I didn't recognize familiar forms. I'm fairly certain this is mud-dauber wasp. Less certain of particular species.

[jenfoundabug]

Gorgeous metallic blue wasp we rescued from the pool. I'm pretty sure its a blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) since I often see these guys grabbing water from the pool.

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Common Blue Mud Dauber Wasp - Chalybion californicum

Returning from the long weekend cottage trip in Caledon, I'm so excited to share all the new insects I photographed there! There'll be quite a few to explore over the next few weeks, but before that, a prelude featuring an insect on hunt while we were loading the car. I've also added a few pictures from the beginnings of my insect photography hobby to show the insect in a more neutral position. As mentioned in earlier posts, solitary Digger Wasps make ground burrows or nests (this specie builds cells into a nest out of mud) and place their eggs inside. The eggs await a provision of food which the mother Wasp tirelessly hunts for; when the former hatch, they will have enough solid food to last them through to pupation. The Blue Mud Dauber's prey items of choice are spiders: any kind as long as they can be captured. While a video would've been better in hindsight to show how she hunts, they pictures before you here showcase the stinging and seizing inflicted by a mother Wasp. When we all first noticed her, he was flying around the garage door but not in an erratic fashion.

She was flying around systemically, combing as much air space as she could along the border of the garage door (occasionally landing) until reaching the top where she found cobwebs. I was grateful as while flying and landing these Wasps are very skittish making photography difficult, but little did I know what was really going on. After navigating her way closer to the web, she used her legs and head to twang and create movement in web, drawing the attention of a spider that crawled out from a dense web ball. The trap was set! In about 3 seconds, the spider rushed to investigate the "prey" entangled in the web and at the last second, the Wasp launched herself and enveloped the spider with her legs. By grappling the spider, the Mud Dauber can orient herself to navigate her paralyzing sting into the spider and then restrain it for easier transportation. This, along with the advantage of flight allows Wasps to effectively hunt and capture spiders, but they shouldn't get too arrogant as the winner is always the one who gets the last bite. This time, mama Wasp won. After the spider stopped struggling, the Dauber dropped from the threads and flew off, carrying her prize with her back to her muddy nest.

Pictures of the hunt were taken on June 30, 2023 with a Google Pixel 4. Supplementary pictures were taken on June 27 and September 11, 2018 with a Samsung Galaxy S4.

[dolicho-vespula]

Gorgeously iridescent, but shy. Likely a common blue mud-dauber (Chalybion californicum).

Here it is next to an smaller, unknown potter wasp.

[woozymitts]

European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula) ♂ Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) Five-banded Thynnid Wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum) Common Blue Mud-dauber Wasp (Chalybion californicum) Chrysidini sp. Four-banded Stink Bug Wasp (Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus) Megachile sp. Parallel-striped Sweat Bee (Halictus parallelus) Myzinum maculatum ♀ Archytas apicifer? Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) Archytas apicifer? Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) ♀ Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) ♂ Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) ♀ Lobed Mason Wasp (Ancistrocerus antilope) Narrow-headed Marsh Fly (Helophilus fasciatus) Hawthorn Mining Bee (Andrena crataegi)? Vespula Sp.

Foaming at the mouth at the absolute biodiversity in my yard this year! We have this bush in the yard that the wasps, bees and flies are obsessed with, which is where I took most of the pictures.

I also noticed these HUGE flies which I've never seen before. Usually if you even look in the general direction of a fly it immediately takes off but these ones could not care less, I could put my hand right up to them and they didn't move until I physically touched them.

Also once again completely baffled by the people who talk about how "aggressive" and "mean" wasps are and how they constantly get stung. What are you guys doing??? None of the above species gave a single shit about me shoving my macro lens in their faces, and if it was windy I would sometimes grab the branch they were on to hold it steady and none of them even reacted.

The queen bee (which has a stinger unlike the males) also made no effort to sting me, after picking her up for a photo she actually refused to get off of my hand because she wanted to sit on me and groom her face.

We've also had lots of yellowjackets (I'm so bad at IDing them so no idea on species) approaching us recently and checking us out, flying extremely close and looking at us and then flying away. Even if I put my hand up in front of them to see if they want to land they sort of just look at it and then fly away.

Last year there were paper wasps on nests in my yard and they would stare at me warily but never sting me when I photographed them.

Also feel free to ID things on my iNaturalist or correct me on any IDs here!

[z-nogyrop]

truly cannot overstate how important it is for everyone to do research into local insect species and just try to notice them when you go outside. there are beautiful metallic blue mud dauber wasps where i live and they’re common in the summer but i just never noticed them until this past year. there are so many dragonflies at the local park. in one walk this june i found ebony jewelwing damselflies and an enormous stinkbug and an emerald-coloured tiger beetle and there is honest to god so much beauty in the insect world if you are willing to look for it

[donutdrawsthings]

A redesign for Doctor Who Audio Drama character, C'rizz! I really enjoy this character, but I'd be lying if I said my jaw didn't drop once I found out what he supposedly looks like dsaklfjdkslf.

Design Nerding under the cut!

I tried to put more focus on the fact that he's described as a lizard who has an exoskeleton, which I feel is such a cool combination of features that isn't utilised much in his official design.

So I decided to give him more of an inhuman snout to lean more towards the lizard aspect, but have it blend into a helmet-like structure to also give it that exoskeleton look. He also has colourful dots all over his body, which are inspired by the dots on a squid that help it camouflage.

The wiki said he wears a light blue hoodie, but I decided to turn that into a poncho with a hood instead. It felt more appropriate a creature from another species and world wouldn't be wearing a regular hoodie. Instead I imagine the imagery on his poncho to hold cultural value to him that's been lost with his people.

I wanted to give him a tail of sorts, but giving him a lizard tail easily made him feel more EARTH LIZARD than "Alien", so I ended up giving him an abdomen inspired by a mud-dauber wasp instead!

Also, I don't usually draw legs more bend and ending straight down like that, but I thought it'd be fun give C'rizz a more interesting and alien posture. It's a feature that's inspired by @myuniverseinabox's work and how they draw legs for their non-human characters! Go give them some love!

[kazoologist]

Every Current Formula 1 Driver But I Decided They Were All Bugs

No Thoughts, Head Empty, Only Insects I Enjoyed From My Single Entomology Class Several Years Ago. Sorry to folks from outside the states. Most of these are like. my local critters.

Max Verstappen - Appalachian Jewelwing, Calopteryx angustipennis I have no reasoning behind this one. He just gives me the vibes of a damselfly kinda man.

Sergio Pérez - Synoeca Cyanea, a species of warrior wasp, or just the Synoeca genus again, literally no justification besides he's on the dark blue team and I just really like these wasps. Please read the Synoeca wikipedia page. they are SO cool.

Lewis Hamilton - Violet Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa violacea fashionable! cool lookin bee!

George Russell - Blue Hawker, Aeshna cyanea

Charles Leclerc - Cattle Killer/Cow Killer, Dasymutilla occidentalis (letting my south midwestern hick jump OUT here. most folks call em velvet ants)

Carlos Sainz - Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Lando Norris - Walker's Cicada, Megatibicen pronotalis this is NOT meant to be a drag I actually love these freakishly loud animals but he just gives bright green cicada energy.

Oscar Piastri - Green Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa aerata cop out? yeah. good bee and something that feels correct? yes.

Fernando Alonso - Mourning Cloak, Nymphalis antiopa i love these fuckin bugs. absolute freaks of nature. they live for like a full year and they're always wandering around and getting up to something. plus they're very distinguished.

Lance Stroll - Common Buckeye, Junonia coenia I'm not even gonna elaborate on this one.

Valtteri Bottas - Eastern Cicada Hawk, Sphecius speciosus I just think they're neat!

Zhou Guanyu - Ebony Jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata blatant favoritism here. The ebony jewelwing is perhaps my all time favorite bug from home :) (its also v stylish)

Esteban Ocon - Chinese Mantis, Tenodera sinensis a noble creature that frequently scares the life out of me when i find one outside my window. Why the fuck are you so long. I appreciate u anyway.

Pierre Gasly - European Field Cricket, Gryllus campestris he just *feels* a bit crickety. Idk what to tell u man.

Kevin Magnussen - Halloween Beetle (or in America, the Japanese Lady Bug), Harmonia axyridis the most determined little bastard in the animal kingdom. They WILL get into your apartment through that microscopic sliver in the window.

Nico Hulkenberg - Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida idk dude he just serves local scarab

Daniel Ricciardo - Black-And-Yellow Mud Dauber, Sceliphron caementarium im sure you are all noticing how much i love wasps by now. i was SO brave not making this a wasp only post. if ur american and a hick (hey girl(gn) hey) you'll know these guys From Constantly Being In Your Car's Inner Workings

Yuki Tsunoda - Bullet Ant, Paraponera clavata tiny but mighty!!!!! (short king solidarity)

Alex Albon - Great Black Wasp, Sphex pensylvanicus yet more blatant favoritism for my faves. Yes this post is so i can assign the williams boys and zg my fave types of local bugs. Anyway. this is one of the best wasps in the world. if u see her irl please stop for a moment to appreciate her. she's usually a docile species but she is very big and i love her. (good hunter too)

Logan Sargeant - Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis the ultimate late spring and all of summer insect of america. voted america's sweetheart of every local body of water eight millionth year in a row!!!! one of the best dragonflies in the country and i am serious!!! if u live in north america this summer, find a LAKE, a POND, A RIVER, perhaps even a CREEK!!!!!! A POOL WILL EVEN GET YOU! you'll find these folks. at current you might catch mating flight season!!! anyway. these are crazy good hunters and they're a beautiful little baby blue shade. anyway. logan and the rest of williams should go huntin for these when he gets back to florida. think it would fix em.

[mothmonarch]

In January, the Ballot Box patrons voted for me to design a blue mud dauber wasp character! I drew them in a number of possible outfits. 👕👗

[minmos]

below the cut (because there are so many bug pictures) i would like to post. a gallery of WASP DIVERSITY

ruby tailed wasp. it rolls up like a pillbug to protect itself and cannot sting. it lays its eggs in other wasp nests

blue mud dauber. not aggressive, males cannot sting. adults are pollinators, their young eat black widow spiders. It's also blue if you can believe that

pelecinid wasp. cannot sting. this has two population groups - one in the southern us & most of south america that does regular parasitic wasp stuff, and a population in the rest of north america consisting only of females that reproduce asexually.

baeus wasp. this guy is fucking crazy. flightless & preys on spider eggs. and it's small as hell

fairyfly. world's smallest insect. lays eggs in other insects' eggs and only lives a few days.

doddifoenus rex. having trouble finding more information about the species.

chalcura. check out those antennae! preys on ants.

tarantula hawk. even more pretty antennae! one of the largest parasitoid wasps. preys on tarantulas. very docile, but does have one of the most painful recorded stings of all insects - it's beat only by the bullet ant on the schmidt pain index. just don't fuck with it though it's not going to go after you

thread waisted wasp. isnt she cool! one got stuck in my bathroom once.

giant ichneumon wasp. isn't that crazy! unable to sting. preys on one specific other species of wasp (pigeon horntail).

organ pipe mud dauber. described by wikipedia as "exceedingly docile" so you know she knows what's up... and she makes nests out of clay because she's a beautiful little potter. so apparently these guys are haplodiploid, which means that they'll just lay eggs and any unfertilized eggs generate males and fertilized eggs generate females. that's weird.

steel blue cricket hunter. You'll never guess what she hunts.

anyway umm yes. WASPS. theres so many cool wasps out there. Dont let yellow jackets poison wasps for you i promise theyre not all like that ...

[headspace-hotel]

Everyone (who likes bees) talks about their favorite bee, but never wasps. Do you have a favorite type of wasp? I personally love the blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) such a pretty color! Plus they prey on spiders, very appealing to an arachnophobe like myself!

I've barely gotten into wasps but they're so beautiful. They just have an elegance of form that is so good.

There's this wasp with iridescent purple wings that I see sometimes in my meadow, but I don't know what it is.