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Species Monobia quadridens - Four-toothed Mason Wasp

Mason Wasp - Monobia quadridens weevil wasp? - Monobia quadridens Mason Wasp - Monobia quadridens - female Mating mason wasps, Monobia quadridens - Monobia quadridens black wasp with white markings - Monobia quadridens Wasp at Hacklebarney - Monobia quadridens Mason Wasp - Monobia - Monobia quadridens Last of the sand gathering wasps. - Monobia quadridens
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Vespoidea (Ants, Stinging Wasps, and Hornets)
Family Vespidae (Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, and Hornets; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps)
Subfamily Eumeninae (Potter and Mason Wasps)
Genus Monobia
Species quadridens (Four-toothed Mason Wasp)
Other Common Names
common name as originally entered, "Mason Wasp," is insufficiently precise
Size
20 mm
Identification
Large black wasp with bold yellowish-white markings.
Range
Eastern and southern United States, west to New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin. (1)
Habitat
Usually seen in open habitats with flowers.
Season
May-October (North Carolina)
Food
Adult takes nectar at flowers.
Life Cycle
Usually nests in wood borings, but sometimes burrows in dirt banks. Sometimes takes over abandoned nests of carpenter bees or ground bees, also Sceliphron (mud dauber) cells. Nest is provisioned with caterpillars, and cells of nest are separated by mud partitions.
See Also
Euodynerus bidens, apparently a mimic
Print References
Swan and Papp, p. 546, fig. 1189 (1)
Lutz, Field Book of Insects, 1st edition, has a color illustration of this species on plate XC (90), plate 98 in 3rd edition. (2)
Brimley, p. 440, lists just this member of the genus for North Carolina, gives season as May-October. (3)
Salsbury, p. 276, photo (4)
Internet References
The Oklahoma Biological Survey website - has an image of an adult as well, (though it is mis-labelled).
Works Cited
1.The Common Insects of North America
By Lester A. Swan, Charles S. Papp
2.Field Book of Insects of the United States and Canada, Aiming to Answer Common Questions,
By Frank Eugene Lutz
3.Insects of North Carolina
By C.S. Brimley
4.Insects in Kansas
By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White
5.Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the Northeastern Nearctic Region
By Matthias Buck, Stephen A. Marshall, and David K. B. Cheung