CLOSED: Who made this?

Watch Reply
More
Mark unread Print Skip to new
greenthumb99 Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a) May 09, 2010

Last summer I moved two panels of siding stored outside and found this. Guessing some type of solitary bee or wasp. Any ideas?

Thumbnail by greenthumb99
Post #7777986
Quote
suunto Sinks Grove, WV May 09, 2010

That would be my guess as well, but I must admit never having come across ones exactly like these. I'll let you know if I can come up with anything more definitive (in the meantime, perhaps someone else will leap on this one...)

Post #7778789
Quote
micigraham Ovalo, TX Jun 06, 2010

I cannot say either, but it appears to be similar to mud dauber nests we find in this area (West TX). It looks like they used 3 different sources of mud - hence, the three areas of different colors. Ours can get quite interesting when the source of wet mud changes from one color of soil to another. They DO love to get between layers of siding. They place a paralyzed spider into each egg casing to feed the larvae when they hatch. I have never seen one with the cells oriented this way though.

Post #7864120
Quote
Ret_Sgt_Yates Sparta , TN(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2010

we call them Dirt dobbers here they collect spiders and such and lay their eggs in thecells and then close them up till they hatch much like the TX is saying .they build any where here

Post #7864131
Quote
greenthumb99 Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2010

We have Mud Dobbers that construct tubes on the side of the house, but the architecture is much different. The open sides of the cells in the photo are where the other piece of siding was used as a wall. All of the feature seen here (above) was built in the channel on the face of the siding as it acted as a tunnel when the two pieces were flat together.

Post #7864307
Quote
greenthumb99 Lucketts, VA(Zone 7a) Mar 05, 2011

I recently attended a native bee talk by T'ai Roulston, native bee specialist and Curator, State Arboretum of Virginia. After describing this finding he asked me to send him a photo. He was quite puzzled by it too and posted it for other native bee investigators to comment on. Here is part of his reply:

"I received a number of responses regarding your photo, and all said the same thing: Osmia, perhaps Osmia lignaria (the blue orchard bee/blue mason bee). I am very familiar with this bee and it is common around here, but apparently it will make nest like this if there are no linear cavities available. People really liked the photo and were taken by the variation in size and shape of the cells and all the mud used."

Thank you T'ai

Post #8407874
Quote
sallyg Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b) Mar 10, 2011

Neat David, great find ! So gratifying to have the pros take note.

Post #8418534
Quote

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
Back to Forum Homepage

More Insect and Spider Identification Threads

Go to all Insect and Spider Identification threads
BACK TO TOP