Was sitting on the porch with the wife yesterday and noticed what I believe was a Mud Dauber wasp fly into a small spider web between the spindles of the porch railing. It sat there and started shaking the web just a little. It wasn't using it's wings but just kind of jerking the web. Out came a very small spider maybe a quarter inch across. To our surprise, the wasp grabbed it and flew off, up out of the web with no problems. Never seen that before.

That is neat.

Pretty neat!!

Crack open a mud dauber nest, and you will find each chamber will have several spiders in it.

The spiders are not dead, but in a state of suspended animation, put there for the newly hatched larva to feed on.


Neat to witness the capture.


Charlie

I just gained a new appreciation for mud wasps.

Very cool observation ! It was indeed "fishing" with the web lines , just as fishing is done .

What I like about them is that they aren't mean spirited , as hornets are...they just want to go about their business.

It is amusing to hear them working on their mud work. They always sound like a Miter saw

Just don’t lean a shotgun in a corner in dauber land very long without checking the bore before you fire it.

I have always wondered what eats spiders.

The handle on one of my outside water spigots is constantly filled with the same green spiders and mud. I gave up on cleaning them out. There will be 5-7 spiders, the same species, barely moving, then mudded over.

Several other species of wasp's will fill up most any kind of hole with spiders and other bugs, lay eggs, and seal up the chamber with a grass plug.

That's Amazing

They like to plug small engine mufflers also.

Great thread always learning new things on T-man

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I hate spiders. Don't like stinging insects much either, but I wish all wasps ate spiders.

I don't know if Mud Dauber's bite? I've never been bitten by one or even had one be aggressive towards me.

Cool.

The trapper was defeated by the prey.

Well now there's two things I like about daubers. The rest of the wasps should learn to be chill like daubers.

Spider wasp or Pompillidae is a large group of wasp, they look like to mud dabbers. Nest chambers can be anywhere and the paralised spiders rear the larvae.
They do a lot of hunting at night and visit light bulbs looking for their prey, usually crawling about to stum that web

The sting does hurt when you grab them and they move that rump around.....it does extend sometimes 3 inches around and if it gets between a fold in the skin...bingo bango

Dirt Daubers are almost friendly!