One lazy Sunday afternoon, we watched a wasp build a mud hut, she would fly to a nearby mud puddle, pick up some sand and then dip it into the water, carrying this ball of mud to it’s newly found corner of our outside windowsill. This carried on for hours and eventually there was only a tiny round opening left.
mud house of a wasp
placing the worm into the mud capsule
last worm, visible through opening
Then, one by one we watched her bring in a spider and six bright green worms, push them into her mud hut and then after a brief rest, she laid her eggs into her mud nest.
This wasp is Delta emarginatum and can be found throughout South Africa.
Delta emarginatum is a large wasp with a body length of 24-35mm, it is long waisted, dark brown to black with dark red markings on head, thorax and waist.
laying the egg
felmale wasp inserting her abdomen into the mud nest
sealing the house
