look like a wasp.. make the mud tube homes.. I have a ton of them and love them. I watch them collect mud balls at my gutter drain... and watch them attack and eat mosquitoes in mid air. They are pretty bad ass. I try to look up info on them and people are always bitching about them. Last night there was mosquito swarming my arm about to land and drain me of blood.. I just watched him waiting to slap him when he lands.. and a mud dobber scoops in and eats him alive in mid air 2 feet from my face. just a few minutes ago I watched one sting - and carry away a spider. these bugs are cool. I found out what she did with it .. "After completing the mud nest the female captures several insects or spiders to provision the cells. Prey are stung and paralyzed before being placed in the nest. A single egg is deposited on the prey within each cell, and the cell sealed with mud. After the wasp has finished a series of cells, she departs and does not return. The larvae that hatch from the eggs feed on the prey items left by the adult wasp. New adult wasps emerge to start the process over again. Wasps usually evoke a great deal of anxiety or fear. However, solitary wasps such as the mud daubers do not defend their nest the way social wasps such as hornets and yellowjackets do. Mud daubers are very unlikely to sting, even when thoroughly aroused. They may sting if mishandled. "
Never have killed them I always thought they were cool now I know. I used to break open their nest and see spiders and thought spiders were using it for a home and killing the pupa mud robber. Things you learn.
I think they just look like a wasp. To me a mud dobber to a wasp is like a mosquito to a mosquito hawk.
