Mud Dauber Wasps – Pests or Not?
Mud dauber wasps are often thought of as pest because they build these little or sometimes large mud structures on building, in sheds, on things, and under eves. While that sounds a bit like a pest problem, you must realize what those mud structures are and what they hold.
Long and Lean
Mud Dauber wasps look quite menacing and surely nobody really wants to bother them. For the most part, however, they are very nonaggressive. They are not at all like their cousins the yellowjackets and hornets. Mud Daubers are not social insects they are a solitary wasp and they provide an amazing benefit to homeowners.
The Benefit Provided by Mud Daubers around the Bryan & College Station Area
Mud Daubers are sphecid wasps (S Fee Cid) and they are spider hunters. They do not take on the big spiders like their cousins the Pompilids which hunt tarantula. Mud Daubers hunt a variety of spiders and they come in a variety of colors. The most commonly seen is the black and yellow mud dauber. It has similar coloring to a yellow jacket. In the insect world, brightly colored insects are usually dangerous, and you certainly do not want to be stung by a mud dauber. However, the coloring of this wasp is more to mimic the more aggressive social wasps and hornets so that people leave them alone.
There is a metallic blue mud dauber, and these are not a generalist. Typically, these are not seen often because they prey on a very specific type of spider. The Blue metallic mud dauber hunts black widow spiders and as such provides homeowners with a brilliant service.
The Mud Structures
People take down the mud structures that these wasps build. Inside each is one or more tubes that the female wasp has crammed full of spiders and then, inside, laid a single egg. The egg is her next generation and the generation of wasps that will fly around your yard hunting spiders. Should you take them down or leave them? It is difficult to distinguish the difference between these nests by species, but when you take down a mud dauber nest you are almost certainly destroying the next generation of wasps.
