The female is the artisan; she shapes each urn from mud. Depending upon the species, the urns may be set alone or lined up so each shares a wall with the urns on either side. The urn is a place of safekeeping for a single egg and enough provisions for the larva to reach adulthood.

Unlike mud-daubing wasps, the potter does not collect mud. She finds the soil she wants and carries water to it. She forms a pellet of mud and carries it to a surface where she shapes the base of the urn. Each urn will take several hundred trips and between one and two hours to complete.

When the neck of the urn is finished, the potter inserts her abdomen and lays a single egg that hangs by a thin thread. Then she stocks the larder with caterpillars. Stunned by her sting, the caterpillars remain alive and motionless. The larval wasp will have plenty to eat. Once the ‘waspling’ reaches adulthood, it pushes its way out the side of the urn and begins the cycle anew.

These beneficial wasps are insectivorous in the first stages of life and switch to feeding on pollen when they become adults. Not only do they help control caterpillars like inchworms and loopers, they may serve as pollinators. (Their ability to pollinate has not been documented.)

If you see a mud urn stuck to the side of your house or even on a window screen, let it be. It will only be there for a few weeks. Take time to view one of these marvels. The photographed specimen has six colors of mud. Once the side has been broken through, the remainder will wash away with a stiff spray from a hose. And you will have one less reason to use pesticides on your vegetables.

 

(Compiled from: “Potter Wasps of Florida”, E.E. Grissell, Featured Creatures, Department of Entomology and Nematology, IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, 2007)