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Genus Sceliphron - Black Mud-dauber Wasps

Sceliphron caementarium - male Black and Yellow Mud Dauber - Sceliphron caementarium Black & yellow mud-duabers collecting mud - Sceliphron caementarium - female Black and yellow wasp - Sceliphron caementarium Sceliphron caementarium (Black and Yellow Mud Dauber) - Sceliphron caementarium - male Maybe Sceliphron caementarium ? - Sceliphron caementarium wasp ? male pimpla rufipes - Sceliphron caementarium Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp-(iNaturalist) - Sceliphron caementarium
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)
Family Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)
Subfamily Sceliphrinae
Tribe Sceliphrini (Mud-dauber Wasps)
Genus Sceliphron (Black Mud-dauber Wasps)
Other Common Names
Black Dirt-dauber Wasps, Black-and-yellow Dirt-dauber Wasps, Black-and-yellow Mud Wasps, Black-and-yellow Mud-dauber Wasps
Explanation of Names
Sceliphron Klug 1801
Greek skeliphron (σκελιφρον) 'lean' (probably referring to its waist)
Numbers
3 spp. in our area(1), 35 total(2)
Identification
S. cementarium, by far the most widespread and common in our area, can be distinguished by a broad yellow band at the base of metatibiae and basal 3 metatarsomeres yellow
S. assimilis (TX only in our area) has dark metatarsi and metatibiae mostly black, usually with a yellow streak on the basal inner third/half
S. curvatum, of Asian origin, has been recently discovered in Quebec, and spreading fast
Range
much of the world; in our area, one sp. widespread, another in TX, and one Old World species recently introduced(1)
Remarks
they build mud cells in sheltered situations and provision the nests with small spiders(3)