Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Register
·
Log In
Home
Guide
ID Request
Recent
Frass
Forums
Donate
Help
Clickable Guide
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Registration
is open for the
2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho
July 24-27
Moth submissions
from
National Moth Week 2023
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico
, July 20-24
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana
, April 28-May 2
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2019 gathering in Louisiana
, July 25-27
Photos of
insects
and
people
from the
2018 gathering in Virginia
, July 27-29
Previous events
Taxonomy
Browse
Info
Images
Links
Books
Data
Home
» Guide »
Arthropods (Arthropoda)
»
Hexapods (Hexapoda)
»
Insects (Insecta)
»
Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera)
»
Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps
»
Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps
»
Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies (Crabronidae)
»
Square-headed Wasps (Crabroninae)
»
Trypoxylini
»
Trypoxylon
»
Subgenus Trypargilum (Trypoxylon Subgenus Trypargilum)
»
Organ Pipe Mud-dauber Wasp (Trypoxylon politum)
Photo#6598
Copyright © 2004
spezzafer
pipe organ mud dauber (Trypoxylon Politum) -
Trypoxylon politum
-
East, Texas, USA
September 1, 2004
edit: thanks to Eric for ID
tag
·
login
or
register
to post comments
Contributed by
spezzafer
on 3 September, 2004 - 8:44pm
Last updated 7 January, 2008 - 7:27am
Pipe organ mud dauber
Cool! This is an adult pipe organ mud dauber, Trypoxylon politum! We need images of this species for the field guide by the way. If it had (has?) a hook on the underside of the abdomen, it is a male, if not, then a female. The hook is amazingly obvious. Males guard the nests of their mates while they are under construction and being provisioned. The nests resemble a pipe organ, as opposed to the clod-like nests of Sceliphron caementarium. Same family (Sphecidae), different subfamily:-)
…
Eric R. Eaton
, 4 September, 2004 - 11:02pm
login
or
register
to post comments
Similar mating pair I've been watching....
There's a male and female I've been watching in College Station, TX that are using a deep hole in a concrete wall as a nesting site. The female (I think) goes off and gets more mud and the male stays at the hole entrance while she's gone. One characteristic I've noticed, on the presumed male, is that his face is white or silver. I want to get closer but I'm not sure he'd like that too much! There's another wasp that may also fit this description, "grass-carrying" wasp which has distinctive hairs also. I'm trying to get close enough to see if there's hairs, but along with the fear of being stung, I work in the chemistry department down here and often get strange looks from people!
…
Catfisha
, 1 June, 2005 - 6:23pm
login
or
register
to post comments
Update on the mating pair
When I was leaving last night, I saw that the presumed female was sealing up the opening with mud. I'm almost 100% certain she sealed the male in there because I heard a muffled buzz, and it wasn't coming from her! Poor guy! Is this normal behavior?
…
Catfisha
, 2 June, 2005 - 4:08pm
login
or
register
to post comments
thanks
Hey thanks for the ID...sorry about the side shot's poor quality; this was (like the mason wasp submissions) a direct scan from a captive wasp. It was very reluctant to stay still for more than half a minute and I was pretty lucky for it to sit on a side of the container so close to the screen to get a half-decent side shot. This was a very loud and feisty wasp (and like all of the other wasps I catch and scan I released it afterwards). Heh.
Hmm...I've never seen these around here before, or any nests which fall under the description you gave...it might've been blown in from a recent hurricane, but I dunno. I found it during a very dank and cloudy afternoon, and very few wasps were seen around.
I didn't see any distinct hook under its abdomen when I caught it, so I'm pretty certain it's a female.
Once again, thanks for the ID!
…
spezzafer
, 4 September, 2004 - 11:50pm
login
or
register
to post comments
Comment viewing options
Flat list - collapsed
Flat list - expanded
Threaded list - collapsed
Threaded list - expanded
Date - newest first
Date - oldest first
10 comments per page
30 comments per page
50 comments per page
70 comments per page
90 comments per page
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.