Blue mud dauber
| Blue mud dauber | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Sphecidae |
| Genus: | Chalybion |
| Species: | C. californicum |
| Binomial name | |
| Chalybion californicum (Saussure, 1867) [1] | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
The blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders.[2] It does not build its own nests, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. Like other mud daubers, it is rarely aggressive.[2] It is similar in shape and colour to the steel-blue cricket hunter (Chlorion aerarium). Like other types of wasps, males do not have an ovipositor, therefore cannot sting.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chalybion californicum. |
- 1 2 M. C. Day (1979). "The species of Hymenoptera described by Linnaeus in the genera Sphex, Chrysis, Vespa, Apis and Mutilla". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 12 (1): 45–84. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1979.tb00049.x.
- 1 2 B. M. Drees & J. Jackman (1999). "Mud Daubers". Field Guide to Texas Insects. Texas A&M University.
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