A Sceliphron mud dauber wasp carries a glob of mud back to her mud nest, the weight of her load counterbalanced by her unusual petiolate abdomen. Texas. #sceliphron #sphecidae #wasp #insects #flight
@alexwild what a gorgeous creature
@alexwild
Amazing wasp.
Amazing photo.
@alexwild bunch of those dudes in Oklahoma every summer. Nice, docile little fellows.
@alexwild I always wondered why they were shaped like that. Obvious, now that you’ve told me.
@Virginicus @alexwild Same. I’ve shared office space with a mud dauber wasp more than once and I wondered about their shape. Suddenly it all makes sense.
@alexwild i would love 2 c a slow mo vid of it
@alexwild That's a really beautiful photo, thank you!
@alexwild great photo!
@alexwild
Does this glob of mud make my petiolate abdomen look big?
Very cool! Both the info and the photo. Thanks for sharing.
@alexwild These things managed to crash at least one plane by building nests in the pitot static tubes that are used to measure aircraft speed.
That's why there are these sleeves that go over the pitot tubes now when planes are not in service.
@soviut Yeah, we talk about this in our entomology class!
@alexwild Nice; I learned it from the show Mayday.
@alexwild insects constantly amaze me
Please excuse the swearing but that photo is absolutely ******* amazing.
Those wings will probably be beating at many 1000 beats per minute, so I suspect you have some rather fancy equipment.
Absolutely fabulous photo and very educational. Those stupendously long legs and an arse on a stick are evolutionary driven adaptations. Presumably the mud nest is very important.
Thank you for sharing
@alexwild
Life is amazing
@alexwild I like big butts...because they bring all the mud balls to the yard.
