Unknown Bug Mound

mud turrets

What about wasps?

… prairie flower, 1 February, 2014 - 7:20pm

Moved

… Ken Wolgemuth, 26 January, 2014 - 10:19am

Mud turrets

They look an awful lot like crayfish "chimneys," though pencil-sized openings sound a bit small. I can't imagine what else they would be. Periodical cicada nymphs apparently sometimes make turrets like this, but I wouldn't expect them to move horizontally underground and end up emerging en masse under a house... was the house built in the past 17 years?

… Charley Eiseman, 2 January, 2014 - 2:01pm

These are definitely cicada c

These are definitely cicada chimneys, probably Magicicada given the location.The mystery is how they arrived under the house.

… Zachary Dankowicz, 12 January, 2024 - 5:57am

Could they be caused by earthworms?

(just a wild guess)

… Brad Barnd, 2 January, 2014 - 4:01pm

That would certainly make more sense for a crawl space...

though I've never come across earthworms doing anything like this. I'd think the only species large enough to make those holes would be the common nightcrawler (Lumbricus terrestris), which does make little mounds of leaves over its burrows, but I've never heard of them making huge turrets, and worms don't usually leave such an obvious burrow entrance.

… Charley Eiseman, 2 January, 2014 - 4:13pm

Bees?

What about something like miner bees?

… LaciP, 2 January, 2014 - 4:18pm

Bees

Most burrowing bees that I can think of are found in sunny, sandy places... Anthophora abrupta makes turrets something like this, but as far as I know always on vertical claybanks. There are certainly bees I don't know about though. Interesting idea...

… Charley Eiseman, 2 January, 2014 - 4:25pm

You'd think...

...that someone would have noticed that many bees coming and going. :)

… Ken Wolgemuth, 2 January, 2014 - 7:25pm