Potter / Mason Wasps

Potter Wasps and Mason Wasps are nearly all solitary wasps, and are in the subfamily Eumeninae. About 260 species occur in North America. The females hunt and paralyze caterpillars as food for the larval wasps. A few build mud nests, but most use preexisting cavities, such as beetle borings in dead wood. The tunnel is divided into cells with one egg laid and several caterpillars placed in each one. The Potter Wasps are usually patterned in black and white and can be identified by the first 2 segments of the abdomen which form a thin petiole linking the thorax to the rest of the abdomen. Most of the Mason Wasps are also black and white, but the abdomen is blunt where it meets the thorax with no obvious petiole. The adult wasps nectar on flowers and can also be found around aphid colonies.

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